Boutte' v. Superintendent

Filing 21

OPINION AND ORDER: The motion to file a belated Rule 60(b) 19 isDENIED. Lance Scott Boutte' is CAUTIONED if he files another unauthorized successive petition, he may be fined, restricted, or otherwise sanctioned. Signed by Judge Theresa L Springmann on 1/28/2025. (mrm)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
FORT WAYNE DIVISION
LANCE SCOTT BOUTTE’,
Petitioner,
v.

CAUSE NO.: 1:13-CV-294-TLS

SUPERINTENDENT,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER
Lance Scott Boutte’, a prisoner without a lawyer, filed a belated motion seeking leave to
file a Rule 60(b) so he can assert there has been a fraud upon the court in this habeas corpus case.
ECF No. 19. This motion is denied.
Though Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(3) allows a court to set aside a judgment if
there was a fraud upon the court, Rule 60(c)(1) requires that motion be filed within one year after
the judgment was entered. Judgment in this case was entered April 27, 2015. ECF No. 27. It is
too late for the court to consider a Rule 60(b)(3) motion. Though Boutte’ asks the court to allow
him to file the Rule 60(b)(3) motion late, this court cannot extend that deadline. See In re Cook
Med., Inc., 27 F.4th 539, 543 (7th Cir. 2022) (finding that Rule 60(c)’s one-year deadline is not
jurisdictional but is a mandatory claims-processing rule that must be enforced).
Rule 60(b) motions in habeas corpus cases are unauthorized successive petitions if the
motion advances one or more claims. Gonzalez v. Crosby, 545 U.S. 524, 532 (2005). Challenges
to procedural rulings are not unauthorized successive petitions. Id. This case was dismissed for a
procedural reason: it was untimely. ECF No. 12. But the proposed Rule 60(b) motion does not
challenge that ruling. Rather, it argues several people lied during the insanity hearing for his

State criminal case. ECF No. 19-4. This argument seeks to advance one of his claims. The
proposed Rule 60(b) motion would be an unauthorized successive petition over which this court
lacks jurisdiction.
This court cannot grant Boutte’ leave to file a successive petition. Only the circuit court
may do so. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A). Not only has Boutte’ not been authorized to file a
successive petition, he has been denied leave to do so. ECF No. 16. In denying his application
for authorization to file a successive petition, the Seventh Circuit explained he “argues that he is
innocent because he was ‘insane’ when he committed the crimes [even though he] already relied
on his psychiatric condition to argue his innocence in his first § 2254 petition, so he is barred
from reasserting the claim here.” Id.
Boutte’ knew he was not authorized to file a successive petition, yet he asks this court to
allow him to do so anyway. Perhaps he did not understand his proposed Rule 60(b) motion was
an unauthorized successive petition, but now he does.
For these reasons, the motion to file a belated Rule 60(b) motion [ECF No. 19] is
DENIED. Lance Scott Boutte’ is CAUTIONED if he files another unauthorized successive
petition, he may be fined, restricted, or otherwise sanctioned.
SO ORDERED on January 28, 2025.
s/ Theresa L. Springmann
JUDGE THERESA L. SPRINGMANN
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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