Connecticut Man Released From Prison 13 Years Ago May Be Headed Back Over Paperwork Mistake

Source: CNN

Demetrius Anderson may face an additional 16 months in prison over a clerical error beyond his control.

A Connecticut man was freed back in 2006 after serving time for crimes he committed in Philadelphia. Now, he may have to return and serve an additional 16 months because of an apparent clerical error.

Demetrius Anderson said that eight U.S. marshals came to his apartment in Connecticut and insisted he go with them to court because he still had a 16-month federal sentence to serve, according to CNN. Anderson had been charged with both state and federal sentences and believed them to be concurrent. But during an internal audit, federal marshals reportedly discovered Anderson never served time for the federal sentence.

However, Anderson said that when he got out of his prison sentence early for his state charge, there were no federal officials to transfer him to another facility.

"I certainly think it is cruel and unusual punishment," Michael Dolan, Anderson's lawyer, said. "I can't speak to why they went back that far or why this wasn't caught earlier."

This is all stems from when crimes Anderson committed in 2001 and 2003. As philly.com reported:

Anderson twice tried to use someone else’s identity in September 2001 to submit credit applications to buy cars. When police were about to arrest him at a Mazda dealership, he sensed a problem and drove away, striking a police officer who was there to arrest him. He later was sentenced to five to 23 months in prison for simple assault.

In September 2003, Anderson twice tried to use counterfeit bills worth a total of about $4,000, the documents say.

He pleaded guilty in 2005 and was sentenced up to 16 months in prison in Connecticut. But before that in 2004, he was sent to Philadelphia and held there while awaiting his federal trial on charges involving counterfeit money. And although Dolan told CNN that the judge at the time said Anderson's sentences would run concurrently, philly.com reported that defense attorneys at the time acknowledged that any federal sentence would begin after he served time in Connecticut.

philly.com also noted how an apparent paperwork mistake incited Anderson's possible return to prison.

The Marshals Service places detainers on inmates in state prisons awaiting federal sentences so that they can be held until a transfer is ready. However, a spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Correction said that the agency has no record of someone making a detainer against Anderson, which resulted in his release in 2006.

But James Burke, the U.S. Marshals chief deputy in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said "It’s our belief the detainer was issued at the time and [Anderson] was mistakenly released."

Source: CNN