Reinhardt v. Warden, FCC Coleman - Medium
Filing
22
OPINION AND ORDER re: 1 Petition for writ of habeas corpus is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. The Clerk of Court shall terminate any pending motions, enter judgment accordingly, and close this case. Signed by Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on 3/17/2014. (SLU)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
OCALA DIVISION
REGINALD REINHARDT,
Petitioner,
v.
Case No: 5:10-cv-686-Oc-38TBS
WARDEN, FCC COLEMAN MEDIUM,
Respondent.
/
OPINION AND ORDER1
Petitioner Reginald Reinhardt initiated this action as a federal prisoner
incarcerated at FCC-Coleman by filing a habeas corpus petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §
2241 (Doc. #1, Petition).
Petitioner submitted a memorandum of law (Doc. #2,
Memorandum) in support with attached exhibits consisting of copies of two of Petitioner’s
criminal convictions (case nos. 90-542CF and 87-8890) entered in the Fifteenth Judicial
Circuit in Palm Beach County, Florida (Exhs. A-B), and a copy of a portion of Florida
Statute 777.011 et seq. (Exh. C). The Petition challenges the validity of Petitioner’s
plea-based conviction of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base in violation of
21 U.S.C. § 841 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in
1
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case number 92-8048.
Petition at 2.
More specifically, Petitioner challenges the
enhancement to his sentence for a variety of reasons, primarily that the prior violent felony
convictions should no longer be considered qualifying violent felonies. Id. at 3.
Respondent filed a Response (Doc. #6, Response) moving to dismiss the Petition
for lack of jurisdiction and attached supporting case law (Doc. #6-1, Exhs.1-6). Upon
review of the Response, the Court entered an order (Doc. #17) directing Respondent to
file Petitioner’s presentence investigation report (“PSI”). Respondent complied with the
Court’s order.
See Doc. #18, Doc. #21. Petitioner filed a Reply (Doc. #8, Reply) to the
Response. This matter is ripe for review.
Procedural History
A. Conviction and Direct Appeal
On May 7, 1992, Petitioner was indicted in the United States District Court for the
Southern District of Florida and charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine
base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841.2 United States v. Reinhardt, Case No. 9:92-cr-8048
(S.D. Fla.), Doc. #1.3 On September 23, 1992, the United States filed an information
2
The indictment arose from an incident on April 27, 1992, when a deputy from the
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office received information from a confidential informant
that Petitioner would arrive that night at the West Palm Beach bus station in a Bronco and
would be boarding a Greyhound bus with luggage containing several hundred bags of
cocaine rocks (crack cocaine). The same evening, Petitioner arrived at the bus station
as a passenger in a Bronco and boarded a Greyhound bus with two pieces of luggage.
Deputies stopped the Bronco and the driver confirmed that Petitioner was her passenger.
Deputies boarded the bus, confronted Petitioner, and Petitioner consented to a search of
his luggage. As a result of the search, deputies found several hundred bags of crack
cocaine totaling 54.45 grams. . Petitioner was then arrested. The indictment followed.
CR Doc. #80; see also Doc. #18-1.
Citations to the Petitioner’s criminal conviction arising in the United States District
Court for the Southern District of Florida will be referred to as “CR” followed by the docket
number.
3
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pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 851, noticing its intent to seek enhanced penalties against
Petitioner based on his prior convictions. CR Doc. #32. Petitioner entered a guilty plea
and was adjudicated accordingly.
CR Doc. #34, #35, #40; Doc. #18-1.
The court
sentenced Petitioner to a 295-month term of imprisonment, followed by 5-years of
supervised release and a $50.00 assessment. CR Doc. #40; Doc. #18-1. Petitioner did
not pursue a direct appeal. See generally CR Doc; see also CR Doc. #80.
B. Collateral Relief
On August 22, 1994, Petitioner filed a motion to vacate his sentence pursuant to
28 U.S.C. § 2255, raising ineffective assistance of counsel. CR Doc. #42, #46, #51, #58.
The court denied Petitioner’s motion. CR Doc. #59, #60. On March 3, 2008, Petitioner
filed a “motion to reduce his sentence.” CR Doc. #64, #80, #81. The court denied
Petitioner’s motion as improperly filed and further found he was really attempting to raise
a successive § 2255 motion without seeking prior permission from the appellate court.
CR Doc. #83.
On May 6, 2010, Petitioner again sought collateral relief, this time
requesting that the court revise his PSI in light of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling
in Johnson.4 CR Doc. #84, #89. The court dismissed Petitioner’s motion for lack of
jurisdiction finding that the motion constituted a successive § 2255 motion. CR Doc. #91.
C. Current § 2241 Petition
Petitioner then initiated the instant Petition under the “saving’s clause” on
December 27, 2010.
See Petition.
As accurately summarized by the Respondent,
Petitioner asserts that the validity of his enhanced sentence has been undermined by
Johnson, the Fair Sentencing Act, Pub.L. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372 (codified at 21 U.S.C.
4Johnson
v. United States, 559 U.S. 133 (2010)
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§ 841(2010), and United States v. O’Brien, 560 U.S. 218 (2010), and that he can now
attack his sentence in light of Gilbert v. United States, 609 F.3d 1159 (11th Cir. 2010),
vacated by 625 F.3d 716 (11th Cir. 2010).
See Petition; see also Memorandum.
Petitioner complains that his sentence was erroneously enhanced under the career
offender provisions of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1; that his
sentence, which was rendered prior to the FSA, is no longer proper; and, that his sentence
was improperly enhanced by a drug quantity not set forth or charged in the indictment,
but instead determined by the sentencing judge.
Respondent argues that Petitioner’s attack on the validity of his enhanced
sentence is not cognizable under § 2241 because Gilbert has been vacated, the FSA is
not retroactive, O’Brien should not be applied retroactively (or to Petitioner’s case, which
is inapposite), and Petitioner cannot otherwise satisfy the savings clause of 28 U.S.C. §
2255.
Response at 3.
Thus, Respondent argues that the Court must dismiss the
Petition for lack of jurisdiction. The Court agrees that this Petition must be dismissed for
lack of jurisdiction. See Gilbert v. United States, 640 F.3d 1293 (11th Cir. 2011)(en
banc)(hereinafter “Gilbert II”), cert. denied, 132 S. Ct. 1001 (2012); Williams v. Warden,
Federal Bureau of Prisons, 713 F.3d 1332, 1343 (11th Cir. 2013); see also Chester v.
Warden, ____ F. App’x ____, 2014 WL 104150 (11 Cir. 2014)(vacating and remanding
district court’s order denying savings clause petition on the merits with instruction to
dismiss for lack of jurisdiction because the sentence enhancement did not exceed the
statutory maximum permitted by the statute under which the petitioner was convicted).
Analysis
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“Typically collateral attacks on the validity of a federal sentence must be brought
under § 2255.” Darby v. Hawk-Sawyer, 405 F.3d 942, 944-45 (11th Cir. 2005)(per
curiam). When a petitioner has previously filed a § 2255 petition, he must apply for and
receive permission from the appropriate federal circuit court prior to filing a successive
petition. Id. (citing In re Blackshire, 98 F.3d 1293, 1293 (11th Cir. 1996); see also 28
U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A). Additionally, § 2255 motions must be brought in the district court
of conviction and are subject to a one-year statute of limitations. Sawyer v. Holder, 326
F.3d 1363, 1365 (11th Cir. 2003); 28 U.S.C. § 2255(f). Under limited circumstances, a
federal prisoner may file a habeas petition pursuant to § 2241. Title 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e)
provides that:
An application for a writ of habeas corpus on 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 application 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.
Id. (emphasis added to indicate the savings clause). The last clause of § 2255(e) is the
“savings clause.” The applicability of the savings clause is a threshold jurisdictional
matter, and where it is absent, federal courts lack authority to consider the merits of a
petitioner's § 2241 claims. Williams v. Warden, Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 713 F.3d 1332,
1343 (11th Cir. 2013) (citing Wofford v. Scott, 177 F.3d 1236, 1245 (11th Cir. 1999)); see
also Bryant v. Warden, FCC Coleman-Medium, 738 F.2d 1253, 1256 (11th Cir.
2013)(recognizing five requirements a petitioner must meet to satisfy the Savings
Clause). Id. at 1339-40 (“[I]n enacting § 2255(e), Congress clearly restricted the subjectmatter jurisdiction of the federal courts.”).
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Petitioner's previous § 2255 motion was denied by the court which imposed his
sentence. Thus, Petitioner may not file another § 2255 motion without first receiving
permission from the appropriate United States Court of Appeals, which Petitioner has
failed to do. 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h); Darby, 405 F.3d at 945 ("[w]hen a prisoner has
previously filed a § 2255 motion to vacate, he must apply for and receive permission . . .
before filing a successive § 2255 motion"). Thus, Petitioner’s only available avenue for
collateral relief in a § 2241 petition is through the savings clause. The savings clause of
§ 2255 permits a federal petitioner to file a § 2241 petition if the petitioner can establish
that § 2255 “is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention.” 28 U.S.C.
§ 2255(e). In Gilbert II, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal held that the savings clause
“does not authorize a federal prisoner to bring in a § 2241 petition a claim, which would
otherwise be barred by § 2255(h), that the sentencing guidelines were misapplied in a
way that resulted in a longer sentence not exceeding the statutory maximum.” Gilbert II,
640 F.3d at 1323. The Eleventh Circuit concluded that “for claims of sentence error, at
least where the statutory maximum was not exceeded, the point where finality holds its
own against error correction is reached not later than the end of the first round of collateral
review.” Id. at 1312, see also Id. at 1295 (holding that a federal prisoner cannot “use a
habeas corpus petition to challenge his sentence . . . at least where the sentence the
prisoner is attacking does not exceed the statutory maximum.”).
Here, Petitioner was convicted of violating 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(3). Given the
quantity of drugs underlying the conviction, Petitioner could have been subject to a term
of imprisonment “not . . . less than 10 years or more than life.”
See 21 U.S.C. §
841(b)(1)(viii). Thus, pursuant to § 841(b)(1), Petitioner faced a statutory maximum
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penalty of life imprisonment even before his prior violent felonies were considered, had
he not entered a negotiated plea. Id.; see also CR Doc. #80 at 2. By entering a plea,
Petitioner was sentenced to 295-months imprisonment, which is not above the statutory
maximum penalty. Consequently, the savings clause in § 2255(e) does not apply to
Petitioner’s claim and this Court lacks jurisdiction to address his § 2241 petition. See
Gilbert II, 640 F.3d at 1295,1312; Chester, 2014 WL 104150 at *4.
To the extent Petitioner relies upon O’Brien to argue that the quantity of the drugs
improperly raised his sentence from zero to 20 years to 10 years to life, see Memorandum
at 8, the case is inapposite. In O’Brien the Supreme Court applied the rule in Apprendi5
to hold that whether a firearm was a machinegun under the federal arms statute, is an
element of the offense that must be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
Petitioner entered a plea in this case and never went to trial before a jury. There is no
issue in this concerning the use of a machine gun. To the extent Petitioner really wanted
to raise an Apprendi claim, Petitioner entered a plea in this case, so his case did not
proceed to a trial by jury. Even if his case did proceed to trial by jury, Apprendi does not
apply retroactively.
Dohrmann v. United States, 442 F.3d 1279, 1281-82 (11th Cir.
2006); McCoy v. United States, 266 F.3d 1245, 1258 (11th Cir. 2001)(“[W]e hold that the
new constitutional rule of criminal procedure announced in Apprendi does not apply
retroactively on collateral review.”)
ACCORDINGLY, it is hereby
ORDERED:
1. The Petition (Doc. #1) is DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction
5Apprendi
v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000).
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2.
The Clerk of Court shall terminate any pending motions, enter judgment
accordingly, and close this case.
DONE and ORDERED in Fort Myers, Florida on this 17th day of March, 2014.
SA: alr
Copies: All Parties of Record
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