I have a Def. indicted for a F2. While out on bond the feds get him on a federal drug charge. He is looking at 15-20 years with the feds, but I still want a piece of him, too. Does it matter which jurisdiction handles him first? Can I stack the state time on the federal time?

Yes. You can stack a State sentence on a federal sentence. Cook v. State, 824 S.W.2d 634, 641-42 (Tex.App.--Dallas 1991), pet. ref'd, 828 S.W.2d 11 (Tex. Crim. App.1992). Apparently, Article 42.08 was amended in 1987 to overule a case that had held otherwise. The Cookcase also discusses earlier versions of the statute that allowed such stacking.

But, as I understand it, the Feds are unlikely to give the guy any credit against his federal sentence for time spent in state custody, so a stacking order in state court is often superfluous.

Okay Martin, help me with the math. If the Feds give him 20, and no credit for the State time. And then I give him another 20, isn't that 40? Are you thinking about the problem encountered when trying to run a State sentence concurrent with a federal sentence?

I guess what I am saying is, regardless of whether the state sentence says it is stacked on top of a federal sentence, the defendant will have to go serve his time in the Bureau of Prisons after completing his actual time in the penitentiary. Now, if you want to assure he serves the federal time first, I guess you have to stack, but otherwise you are getting your piece of the action with the assurance he will later spend more time in federal custody. Have I misunderstood how the federal system works?

Oh. I think I missed the second part of the question. You can't stack something on something that doesn't yet exist. So, in order to stack on the federal sentence, he actually needs to be sentenced by the feds first. Perhaps you could check with the USA's and see if they can stack their time on top of yours. Am I on the right page now, Martin?