Thomas v. Sellers

In 1977, John Cook Thomas was sentenced to eight years in jail on a Mobile County, Alabama burglary charge. After a successful appeal and upon being re-tried he received a sentence of five years on this charge. Considering this conviction alone, appellant was scheduled for a hearing before the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles in January, 1979. That date was set based on appellant having served one-third of his Mobile sentence. Appellant was not aware that this date had been set. After setting the hearing date, the Board learned that Thomas had been convicted of grand larceny in Tallapoosa County, Alabama in April, 1978 and received an eight year sentence to run concurrently with the earlier conviction. When the Board was informed of the Tallapoosa County conviction, the date the appellant would be eligible for parole was re-determined and the hearing before the Board was rescheduled for March, 1981. Thomas filed this pro se action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Sara Cousins Sellers, Chairman of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. Thomas alleged the Board had violated his constitutional rights to due process of law when it changed the date of the hearing without notice to him.