In the United States Court of Federal Claims No. 21-1574C (Filed: May 27, 2022) ) MHAMMAD ABU-SHAWISH, ) ) Unjust Conviction and Imprisonment Pro Se Plaintiff, ) Act; 28 U.S.C. §§ 1495, 2513; v. ) Damages; Period of Incarceration; Pre- ) Trial Detention THE UNITED STATES, ) ) Defendant. ) ) Mhammad Abu-Shawish, Milwaukee, WI, pro se. Geoffrey M. Long, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, with whom were Brian M. Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Patricia M. McCarthy, Director, and Steven J. Gillingham, Assistant Director, for defendant. OPINION FIRESTONE, Senior Judge. In 2006, pro se plaintiff Mhammad Abu-Shawish was convicted of federal program fraud in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. His conviction was eventually overturned, and on July 27, 2020, Mr. Abu-Shawish received a “certificate of innocence” from the Eastern District of Wisconsin pursuant to the Unjust Conviction and Imprisonment Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1495, 2513. Once a plaintiff obtains a certificate of innocence, the Act authorizes the court to award $50,000 for each 12-month “period of incarceration” due to an unjust conviction, id. § 2513(e), to compensate for the plaintiff’s “loss of liberty,” Crooker v. United States, 828 F.3d 1357, 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (per curiam). Mr. Abu-Shawish seeks compensation under the Act for four periods of time: (1) 574 days spent in pre-trial detention; (2) 486 days spent incarcerated in federal prison; (3) six months spent in the custody of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) for deportation proceedings following his release; and (4) six months spent awaiting a decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on his appeal of his federal program fraud conviction, during which he was not in custody. See Compl. at 5, ECF No. 1; Def.’s Mot. at 14, ECF No. 18; Pl.’s Resp. at 1-4, ECF No. 22. In total, Mr. Abu-Shawish seeks compensation for 1,425 days. Now pending before the court is the government’s motion for partial summary judgment. The government concedes that Mr. Abu-Shawish is entitled to compensation for 486 days, the period of post-conviction incarceration time related to his unjust federal program fraud conviction. Def.’s Mot. at 14. However, the government argues that the additional periods of time sought by Mr. Abu-Shawish are not compensable under the Act. Id. at 14-19. For the reasons discussed below, the court concludes that Mr. Abu-Shawish is not entitled to compensation under the Act for his time in ICE custody or while free and awaiting appeal. However, Mr. Abu-Shawish is entitled to compensation for a portion of the time he spent in pre-trial detention in addition to the 486 days of post-conviction 2 incarceration time for which the parties agree he should be compensated.1 The government’s motion for partial summary judgment is therefore GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART, and the court sua sponte GRANTS IN PART summary judgment in favor of Mr. Abu-Shawish. Mr. Abu-Shawish is entitled to compensation for 956 days of incarceration, totaling …
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