St. Louis v. Carroll et al
Filing
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MEMORANDUM AND ORDER. Signed by Judge Sue L. Robinson on 12/11/13. (cla, )
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE
JAMES ST. LOUIS,
Petitioner,
v.
PERRY PHELPS, Warden, and
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE
STATE OF DELAWARE,
Respondents.
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) Civ. No. 05-187-SLR
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MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
1. Background. In May 2001, a Delaware Superior Court jury convicted
petitioner of first degree rape and continuous sexual abuse of child. (D. /. 32 at 1) He
was sentenced to an aggregate of forty years of incarceration, suspended after twentytwo years for decreasing levels of supervision. See Sf. Louis v. State, 2002 WL
1160979, at *1 (Del. May 24,2003). The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed petitioner's
conviction and sentence on direct appeal. Id.
2. Petitioner filed a timely application for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28
U.S.C. § 2254 (0.1. 2), which the court denied on April 27, 2006. (0.1. 32; 0.1. 33)
Petitioner appealed, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals declined to issue a
certificate of appealability on December 7, 2006. (0.1. 37)
3. On February 9, 2009, petitioner sought authorization from the Third Circuit to
file a successive habeas corpus application pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b). See In re:
James Sf. Louis, et. aI., Civ. A. No. 09-1375 (3d Cir. Feb. 9,2009). The Third Circuit
denied that application. See In re: James St. Louis, et. al., Civ. A. No. 09-1375, McKee,
J., Order (3d Cir. Mar. 12,2009).
4. In July 2009, petitioner again moved the Third Circuit for permission to file a
successive habeas corpus application. See In re: James St. Louis, ef. al., Civ. A. No.
09-3120 (3d Cir. July 27,2009). That request was denied on August 25,2009, and
rehearing was denied on September 23,2009. See In re: James Sf. Louis, et. al., Civ.
A. No. 09-3120, Chagares, J., Order (3d Cir. Aug. 25, 2009); In re: James Sf. Louis, et.
al., Civ. A. No. 09-3120, Chagares, J., Order (3d Cir. Sept. 23, 2009)
5. Petitioner filed a Rule 60(b) motion for reconsideration on November 13,
2012. (0.1. 40) The State filed an answer on December 21,2012, alleging that the
court should deny the motion for being a second or successive habeas application.
(0.1. 43) Petitioner filed another Rule 60(b) motion on January 7,2013 (0.1. 44), which
merely responded to the State's answer by reasserting the same allegations set forth in
his first Rule 60(b) motion. In a memorandum and order dated September 13,2013,
the court denied both motions. (0.1. 47)
6. Presently pending before the court is petitioner's third Rule 60(b) motion for
reconsideration. (0.1. 48)
7. Standard of Review. A motion for reconsideration filed pursuant to Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) "allows a party to seek relief from a final judgment, and
request reopening of his case, under a limited set of circumstances including fraud,
mistake, and newly discovered evidence." Gonzalez v. Crosby, 545 U.S. 524,528
(2005). Rule 60(b) provides that a party may file a motion for relief from a final
judgment for the following reasons:
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(1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered
evidence by which due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move
for a new trial under Rule 59(b); (3) fraud (whether heretofore denominated
intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation or other misconduct of an adverse party;
(4) the judgment is void; (5) the judgment has been satisfied, released or
discharged, or a prior judgment upon which it is based has been reversed or
otherwise vacated, or it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have
prospective application; or (6) any other reason justifying relief from the
operation of the judgment.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b).
8. Rule 60(b) motions are left to the sound discretion of the trial court, consistent
with accepted legal principles applied in light of all relevant circumstances. Pierce
Assoc. Inc. v. Nemours Found., 865 F.2d 530, 548 (3d Cir. 1988). A court may grant a
Rule 60(b) motion only in extraordinary circumstances,l and a Rule 60(b) motion is not
appropriate to reargue issues that the court has already considered and decided.
Brambles USA Inc. v. Blocker, 735 F. Supp. 1239, 1240 (D. Del. 1990).
9. Additionally, when, as here, a district court is presented with a motion for
reconsideration after it has denied a petitioner's § 2254 application, the court must first
determine if the motion constitutes a second or successive application under the
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act ("AEDPA"). As articulated by the Third
Circuit,
in those instances in which the factual predicate of a petitioner's Rule 60(b)
motion attacks the manner in which the earlier habeas judgment was procured
and not the underlying conviction, the Rule 60(b) motion may be adjudicated on
the merits. However, when the Rule 60(b) motion seeks to collaterally attack the
petitioner's underlying conviction, the motion should be treated as a successive
habeas petition.
Pridgen
V.
Shannon, 380 F.3d 721,727 (3d Cir. 2004). Under AEDPA, a prisoner
1Moolenaar V.
Gov't of Virgin Islands, 822 F .2d 1342, 1346 (3d Cir. 1987).
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cannot file a second or successive habeas application without first obtaining approval
from the Court of Appeals and, absent such authorization, a district court cannot
consider the merits of a subsequent application. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A); Robinson
v. Johnson, 313 F.3d 128, 139-40 (3d Cir. 2002).
10. Discussion. In his habeas application, petitioner argued that his victims'
biological father "took [A] to dinner along with her sister [K] and promised presents,
gifts, and many other things if they [would] cooperate with [the prosecutrix] and testify."
(0.1. 23 at 3-4) Petitioner also contended that the Delaware Superior Court erred by
permitting the jury to view the videotaped statements of his victims during deliberations.
11. Movant's instant Rule 60(b) motion re-asserts the arguments he presented
in his prior Rule 60(b) motions, namely, that he has newly discovered evidence that
supports his earlier contentions that someone tampered with the child victim testimony,
that his attorney was aware of the tampering and did nothing, and that both the trial
court and the prosecutor erred by allowing that testimony to go before the jury.
Petitioner appears to contend that reconsideration is warranted pursuant to Rule
60(b)(1)'s provision for "excusable neg/ect," and asks that the court "excuse his lack of
professionalism [and] look at the merits of these issues." (0.1. 48 at 1,4)
12. For the same reasons set forth in the court's memorandum and order dated
September 13, 2013, the court concludes that the instant Rule 60(b) motion constitutes
a second or successive habeas application. See (0.1. 47) Once again, petitioner has
not provided any indication that he obtained permission from the Third Circuit Court of
Appeals to file the instant motion. Accordingly, the court will deny petitioner's motion for
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lack oJ jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(1); Robinson, 313 F.3d at 139 (holding
that when a second or successive habeas application is erroneously filed "in a district
court without the permission of the court of appeals, the district court's only option is to
dismiss the petition or transfer it to the court of appeals pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631.").
13. In addition, even if the court were to treat the instant Rule 60(b) motion as a
true motion for reconsideration rather than as a second or successive § 2254
application, the instant motion does not satisfy the standards outlined in Rule 60(b).
See (0.1. 47) As such, the court is not persuaded that the instant situation amounts to
the type of "extraordinary circumstances" warranting reconsideration of its prior denial
of petitioner's § 2254 application, or its denial of petitioner's earlier Rule 60(b) motions.
14. Finally, to the extent one may be necessary, the court declines to issue a
certificate of appealability because petitioner has failed to make a "substantial showing
of the denial of a constitutional right." 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2); see United States v.
Eyer, 113 F.3d 470 (3d Cir. 1997); 3d Cir. LA.R. 22.2 (2011).
15. Conclusion. For the above reasons, the court will dismiss the instant
application as second or successive. A separate order shall issue. See Fed. R. Civ. P.
58(a)(Uevery judgment must be set out in a separate document").
Dated: December
J\
,2013
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