UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

TENTH CIRCUIT

RAYMOND C. MILENTZ,

Petitioner-Appellant,

v.

PAGE TRUE, Warden,

Respondent-Appellee.	No. 99-3108

(D.C. No. 97-CIV-3328-RDR)

(D. Kan.)

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

Before BRORBY, EBEL and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.

Pro se petitioner-appellant Raymond C. Milentz is a federal inmate currently incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, where he is serving a life sentence for kidnaping, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201. Milentz appeals from the district court's denial of habeas relief asserted pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Milentz contends that he was erroneously denied jail time credit against his federal sentence for time served while in state custody. Having reviewed Milentz's arguments and the record, we affirm the district court's denial of habeas relief.

BACKGROUND

On November 21, 1974, Milentz escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary, where he had been serving a five year sentence on charges of striking a police officer. During his escape, Milentz was involved in an automobile crash that killed two people. He was apprehended and returned to the custody of the Missouri State Penitentiary, and on June 10, 1975, was sentenced to consecutive terms of 25 and 30 years' imprisonment on two convictions for second degree murder, plus an additional consecutive term of five years' imprisonment for the escape.

On December 20, 1977, Milentz and another prisoner again escaped from custody, this time kidnaping two corrections officers and commandeering a vehicle being used to transport the prisoners. Milentz and his fellow prisoner drove some three hundred miles across state lines into Illinois where they were eventually apprehended after their vehicle struck another car, killing its driver. As a result, on December 21, 1977, Milentz was taken into federal custody on kidnaping charges, for which he was later convicted. On March 14, 1978, he was sentenced in the federal court to a term of life imprisonment, to run consecutively to the sentences previously imposed in Missouri.1

On March 16, 1978, Milentz was turned over to state authorities in Illinois for prosecution under a writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum. Milentz's Prior Custody, Detention and Disposition record reflects that following prosecution in Illinois, Milentz was to be delivered to the State of Missouri. Accordingly, on April 21, 1978, he was returned to the Missouri Department of Corrections to resume serving his sentences in that state. On June 30, 1995, he was paroled and was transferred to federal custody to commence service on his federal life sentence.

Milentz received jail time credit on his federal sentence for the period he was in federal custody for prosecution on the kidnaping charge, i.e., from December 21, 1977 to March 16, 1978. On July 23, 1997, Milentz filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, contending that he was entitled to credit toward his federal sentence for the period between December 21, 1977 (the date he was taken into federal custody) and June 29, 1995 (the last day he served in Missouri prior to being released on parole). On January 25, 1999, the district court denied habeas relief; Milentz now appeals.

DISCUSSION
Because Milentz' offense occurred on December 20, 1977, the issue of jail time credit is governed by 18 U.S.C. § 3568.2 That statute provided in relevant part:

Effective date of sentence; credit for time in custody prior to the imposition of sentence

The sentence of imprisonment of any person convicted of an offense shall commence to run from the date on which such person is received at the penitentiary, reformatory, or jail for service of such sentence. The Attorney General shall give any such person credit toward service of his sentence for any days spent in custody in connection with the offense or acts for which sentence was imposed.

We agree with the district court that the sentencing court's order unequivocally stated that Milentz's federal sentence was to be served consecutively to the Missouri sentences, and that the sentencing court was authorized to order the federal sentence to run consecutive to his state sentences. See Werntz v. Looney, 208 F.2d 102, 103 (10th Cir. 1953). We further agree that under § 3568, Milentz's federal sentence did not commence until he was received by the U.S. Marshals Service on June 30, 1995.3 Because Milentz has not shown that his time served while in state custody was "in connection with the offense or acts for which [his federal] sentence was imposed," see 18 U.S.C. § 3568, Milentz is not entitled to credit against his federal sentence for time served on his unrelated state sentences. Milentz is not entitled to habeas relief. AFFIRMED.

The mandate shall issue forthwith.

ENTERED FOR THE COURT

David M. Ebel

Circuit Judge