Jones v. Goetz

CURTIS DEON JONES, Petitioner - Appellant, v. C.R. GOETZ, Acting Warden, FCI Florence, Respondent - Appellee.

No. 17-1256

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS TENTH CIRCUIT

October 11, 2017

(D.C. No. 1:17-CV-01017-LTB)

(D. Colo.)

ORDER AND JUDGMENT^*

Before PHILLIPS, McKAY, and McHUGH, Circuit Judges.

Curtis Deon Jones, a federal prisoner proceeding pro se, appeals the district court's dismissal of his Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (§ 2241 application). Mr. Jones also seeks leave to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP). Construing Mr. Jones's pleadings liberally, see United States v. Pinson, 584 F.3d 972, 975 (10th Cir. 2009), and exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm thedistrict court's dismissal of Mr. Jones's § 2241 application and deny his request to proceed IFP.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Legal Background

A federal prisoner seeking to challenge the validity of his conviction or sentence "may move the court which imposed the sentence to vacate, set aside or correct the sentence." 28 U.S.C. § 2255(a). With this provision, "Congress has chosen to afford every federal prisoner the opportunity to launch at least one collateral attack to any aspect of his conviction or sentence." Prost v. Anderson, 636 F.3d 578, 583 (10th Cir. 2011). Such motions "attack[] the legality of [the prisoner's] detention, and must be filed in the district court that imposed the sentence." Bradshaw v. Story, 86 F.3d 164, 166 (10th Cir. 1996) (citations omitted).

Although a prisoner may ordinarily seek relief under § 2255 only once, see Hale v. Fox, 829 F.3d 1162, 1165 (10th Cir. 2016), "Congress has indicated that it will sometimes allow a prisoner to bring a second or successive" § 2255 motion, Prost, 636 F.3d at 583. But because "enhanced finality interests attach[] to a conviction already tested through trial [or acceptance of a plea of guilt], appeal, and one round of collateral review, . . . Congress has specified that only certain claims it has deemed particularly important . . . may be brought in a second or successive motion." Id. at 583-84. These claims are limited to those that contain either "newly discovered evidence that . . . would be sufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable factfinder would have found the movant guilty of the offense" or "a new rule of constitutional law,made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable." 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h).

Typically, a § 2255 motion is "[t]he exclusive remedy for testing the validity of a judgment and sentence" following the conclusion of a direct appeal. Bradshaw, 86 F.3d at 166 (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Prost, 636 F.3d at 580 ("Congress has told us that federal prisoners challenging the validity of their convictions or sentences may seek and win relief only under the pathways prescribed by § 2255."). But Congress created an exception to this general rule in § 2255(e)'s so-called "savings clause," which we have recognized allows a prisoner, "in extremely limited circumstances," Caravalho v. Pugh, 177 F.3d 1177, 1178 (10th Cir. 1999), to challenge his conviction by bringing an application for habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, see Hale, 829 F.3d at 1165. Specifically, the savings clause provides that:

An application for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of a prisoner who is authorized to apply for relief by motion pursuant to this section, shall not be entertained if it appears that the applicant has failed to apply for relief, by motion, to the court which sentenced him, or that such court has denied him relief, unless it also appears that the remedy by motion is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention.

28 U.S.C. § 2255(e).

Accordingly, under this provision "a federal prisoner may resort to § 2241 to contest his conviction . . . only if the § 2255 remedial mechanism is 'inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention.'" Prost, 636 F.3d at 580 (quoting § 2255(e)). But to avail himself of the savings clause and "bring a second or successive attack on his conviction or sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, without reference to§ 2255(h)'s restrictions," id. at 584, a prisoner must bring the § 2241 application in the district where he is confined and establish that § 2255 is inadequate and ineffective to test the legality of his conviction or sentence, see Hale, 829 F.3d at 1165, 1170.¹

B. Factual and Procedural Background

In October 2006, Mr. Jones pleaded guilty to a single count of racketeering conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1962 and 1963. United States v. Jones, Nos. 05-cr-91-005-TCK, 08-cv-88-TCK-TLW, 2010 WL 4809270, at *1 (N.D. Okla. Nov. 17, 2010) (Jones II) (unpublished). Mr. Jones's guilty plea was made pursuant to a plea agreement with the Government, which included a waiver of his right to directly appeal or collaterally attack his conviction or sentence, with the exception of ineffective assistance of counsel claims challenging the validity of the plea agreement or waiver. See United States v. Jones, 421 F. App'x 867, 867 (10th Cir. 2011) (Jones III) (unpublished). The plea agreement also contained an admission by Mr. Jones that he shot James Eric Stewart in conjunction with his participation in the racketeering conspiracy. Jones II, 2010 WL 4809270, at *1.

At Mr. Jones's sentencing hearing held some months later, pursuant to § 2E1.3 of the United States Sentencing Commission Guidelines Manual (U.S.S.G. or Guidelines), the district court established Mr. Jones's base offense level by examining the offense level applicable to the underlying crime of racketeering activity. In doing so, the district court concluded Mr. Jones's underlying racketeering activity included, among other things, second degree murder as identified in § 2A1.2 of the Guidelines, which resulted in a base offense level of 38. After accounting for Mr. Jones's criminal history category and a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, the district court determined the advisory Guidelines sentencing range to be 210 to 262 months and sentenced Mr. Jones to 260 months' imprisonment. See United States v. Jones, 236 F. App'x 449, 450 (10th Cir. 2007) (Jones I) (unpublished).

Mr. Jones directly appealed his conviction and sentence, and the government moved to enforce the appellate waiver contained in Mr. Jones's plea agreement. Id. We dismissed Mr. Jones's appeal, concluding under the factors identified in United States v. Hahn, 359 F.3d 1315, 1325 (10th Cir. 2004) (en banc) (per curiam), that Mr. Jones had waived his appellate rights. Jones I, 236 F. App'x at 450. Mr. Jones then filed a motion to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. In that motion, Mr. Jones asserted numerous claims regarding the ineffective assistance of counsel, including, among other claims, that his counsel: (1) provided ineffective assistance with respect to a "coerced and involuntary plea"; (2) made incriminating statements during the sentencing hearings; and (3) failed "to make a claim of insufficient evidence and abandone[d] . . . a viable defense" regarding Mr. Jones's role in the murder of Mr. Stewart. Jones II, 2010WL 4809270, at *1-2. With respect to this final claim, Mr. Jones specifically argued that his counsel knew or should have known that Mr. Stewart's death "was caused by another [individual], and that [the responsible] person had pled guilty" to the murder prior to Mr. Jones's guilty plea. Id. at *2. The district court denied Mr. Jones's motion, concluding in relevant part that counsel's conduct did not violate the standards set forth in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), and that Mr. Jones waived the right to raise a number of his claims by way of the collateral attack waiver contained in his plea agreement. Id. at *2-7. Mr. Jones sought a certificate of appealability to challenge the district court's decision, but we denied his request. Jones III, 421 F. App'x at 867-68.

Since the denial of his initial § 2255 motion, Mr. Jones has attempted to challenge his conviction and sentence on multiple occasions in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma—the court where he was sentenced—through successive § 2255 motions, as well as through a motion to vacate under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 60(b)(4), 60(d)(1), and 12(b)(1). All of Mr. Jones's challenges have been unsuccessful. See, e.g., United States v. Jones, 590 F. App'x 822, 823 (10th Cir. 2015) (unpublished); In re Jones, No. 14-5120 (10th Cir. Nov. 3, 2014) (unpublished); United States v. Jones, 550 F. App'x 667, 668-68 (10th Cir. 2013) (unpublished); In re Jones, No. 12-5141 (10th Cir. Sept. 25, 2012) (unpublished). More recently, Mr. Jones sought our authorization to proceed on a successive § 2255 motion that he had previously filed with the district court. In that motion Mr. Jones raised a number of claims for relief, including what appeared to be a claim of actual innocence with respect to the murder of Mr. Stewart and an alleged violation of the Supreme Court's decision in Molina-Martinezv. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1338, 1346 (2016). See In re Jones, No. 17-5017 (10th Cir. Feb. 23, 2017). We denied Mr. Jones's request, concluding in relevant part that: (1) his allegations regarding Mr. Stewart's murder failed to satisfy 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h) because he "was not convicted of murder—he was convicted . . . of participating in a racketeering conspiracy" and the fact that "another person was convicted of Mr. Stewart's murder does nothing to show that a reasonable factfinder would not have found Mr. Jones guilty of participating in a racketeering conspiracy" or that his "Guidelines range was incorrectly calculated"; and (2) even if Molina-Martinez states a new rule of constitutional law, it has not been made retroactive to cases on collateral review. Id.

On April 24, 2017, Mr. Jones filed the instant § 2241...