Douglas v. Werlich

Filing 63

ORDER DISMISSING CASE. Bernard Douglas's Amended Petition for writ ofhabeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2241 (Doc. 56 ), is DISMISSED without prejudice as moot. Signed by Judge David W. Dugan on 4/7/2021. (beb)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
BERNARD DOUGLAS,
No. 13373-026,

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Petitioner,
vs.
ERIC WILLIAMS,
Respondent.

Case No. 17-cv-837-DWD

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
DUGAN, District Judge:
Petitioner Bernard Douglas, a federal prisoner incarcerated at FCI-Greenville, filed a pro se
Petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 on August 7, 2017. (Doc. 1). He
invoked Mathis v. United States, –– U.S. ––, 136 S. Ct. 2243 (2016), to argue that his 1995 Illinois
drug possession conviction should not have been used to increase the statutory minimum penalty
for his federal drug conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A), and § 851 in the Central
District of Illinois, Case No. 07-cr-10080-MMM-JEH-3. Douglas was sentenced to 240 months
in that case following his guilty plea.
After initial briefing and supplements filed by Douglas (Docs. 15, 16, 19, and 22),
Respondent filed a Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 26) which the Court denied. (Doc. 29). That order
directed the parties to address the issues of whether Seventh Circuit precedent during 2009-2011
foreclosed Douglas from challenging the use of his Peoria County drug conviction under 720 ILCS
570/402(c) (1995) as a predicate “felony drug offense;” and whether his 240-month mandatory
minimum sentence amounted to a miscarriage of justice that would warrant habeas relief. (Doc.
29, pp. 10-14). After Respondent filed a Supplemental Response (Doc. 32), the Court appointed

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the Federal Public Defender to prepare Douglas’s supplemental reply (Doc. 36).
Thereafter, on January 25, 2021, Douglas filed his Amended Petition for writ of habeas
corpus. (Doc. 56). Respondent filed a Response (Doc. 58) and Douglas replied on April 5, 2021.
(Doc. 62).
During the pendency of this habeas case, Douglas also filed a motion to reduce sentence
pursuant to Section 404(b) of the First Step Act in April 2019 in his criminal case in the Central
District of Illinois. (Doc. 365 in United States v. Douglas, Case No. 07-cr-10080-MMM-JEH).
Upon review of that docket, the Court has learned that Douglas’s motion was granted on March 5,
2021. 1 Douglas was resentenced on March 11, 2021; his 240-month sentence was reduced to time
served, and his 10-year term of supervised release was reduced to a 5-year term, with modified
conditions of release. (Docs. 376, 380, 381 in Case No. 07-cr-10080-MMM-JEH). The amended
judgment provided that Douglas was still required to serve a consecutive 18-month sentence for
violation of supervised release in a previous case (Case No. 04-cr-10074, C.D. Ill.), therefore he
remains in custody on that matter. Douglas did not challenge that sentence in this action.
Because Douglas’s Amended Habeas Petition challenged the same 240-month sentence
which has now been reduced to time served, no further relief from this sentence is available. The
Amended Petition no longer presents a “case or controversy” under Article III, § 2 of the
Constitution and has become moot. See Spencer v. Kemna, 523 U.S. 1, 7 (1998) (petitioner “must
have suffered, or be threatened with, an actual injury traceable to the [respondent] and likely to be
redressed by a favorable judicial decision” to avoid mootness).

The Court consulted the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (“PACER”) website
(www.pacer.gov) to verify the disposition of Douglas’s First Step Act motion. See Bova v. U.S. Bank,
N.A., 446 F. Supp. 2d 926, 930 n.2 (S.D. Ill. 2006) (a court may judicially notice public records available
on government websites) (collecting cases).
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IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Bernard Douglas’s Amended Petition for writ of
habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (Doc. 56), is DISMISSED without prejudice as moot.
The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to enter judgment accordingly.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: April 7, 2021

___________________________
DAVID W. DUGAN
United States District Judge

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