Hall, et al v. USA

Filing 82

ORDER dismissing 81 Motion o File a Rule 60(d)(1) Independent Action for Relief of Habeas Corpus 2255 Judgment. Signed by District Judge Frank D. Whitney on 9/8/21. (Pro se litigant served by US Mail.)(clc)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
CHARLOTTE DIVISION
3:95-cr-5-FDW-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
vs.
)
)
MARC PIERRE HALL,
)
)
Defendant.
)
____________________________________ )

ORDER

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Defendant’s pro se “Motion Requesting
Permission to File Attached F.R.Cv.P. Rule 60(d)(1) Independent Action for Relief of Habeas
Corpus 2255 Judgment,” (Doc. No. 1077).
I.

BACKGROUND1
The Defendant was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute

cocaine and cocaine base within 1,000 feet of a school or playground in violation of 21 U.S.C. §
846 (Count One); two counts of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug
trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c)(1) and 2 (Counts Ten and Eleven); and using
and carrying a destructive device and causing damage and destruction to real property which was
in and affecting commerce in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(i) (Count Twelve). (Doc. No. 345). He
was sentenced to life imprisonment for Count One, 480 months’ imprisonment for Count Twelve,
and 60 months’ imprisonment for Count 12, concurrent; and a consecutive term of life
imprisonment for Count Eleven. (Doc. No. 409). The Judgment was affirmed on direct appeal and
certiorari was denied. United States v. Hall, 129 F.3d 1261 (4th Cir. 1997), cert. denied 524 U.S.

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This section summarizes the Defendant’s extensive litigation history; it is not exhaustive.

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932 (1998).
In 1999, the Defendant filed motion to vacate pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 that was denied,
case number 3:99-cv-61-FDW. The Defendant’s appeal was dismissed and certiorari was denied.
United States v. Hall, 26 F. App’x 357 (4th Cir. 2002), cert. denied 537 U.S. 894 (2002). The
Defendant then filed a number of successive pro se § 2255 actions, all of which were dismissed,
as were the appeals. See 3:05-cr-425-GCM; 3:07-cv-415-FDW; 3:07-cv-438-FDW. He also filed
motions seeking relief from judgment, including a Rule 60(d)(1) motion challenging the denial of
his § 2255 petition in case number 3:99-cv-61. The Court dismissed the Motion as an unauthorized
successive 2255 petition. Hall v. United States, 2016 WL 6762422 (W.D.N.C. Nov. 14, 2016).
The Fourth Circuit dismissed the Defendant’s appeal and denied him authorization to file a
successive § 2255 motion pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h). United States v. Hall, 285 F. App’x
291 (4th Cir. 2017).
Undeterred, the Defendant has now filed the instant Motion in the criminal case in which
he appears to seek leave to file an independent action pursuant to Rule 60(d)(1) to relieve him from
the Judgment denying him post-conviction relief in case number 3:99-cv-61. He contends that he
his meritorious claims were denied because the Court failed to anticipate developments in the case
law. He appears to ask the Court to set aside the Judgment in case number 3:99-cv-61 and adjust
his sentence to: to ten years’ imprisonment for Count One; five years, consecutive for Counts Ten
and Eleven; and five years, concurrent, for Count Twelve. Alternatively, he asks the Court to
“restrain any beneficiaries of the 2255 Judgment from receiving any benefit whatever from it.”
(Doc. No. 1077 at 12-13).
II.

DISCUSSION
Rule 60(d)(1) provides that courts may “entertain an independent action to relieve a party
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from a judgment, order or proceeding.” Independent actions are “reserved for those cases of
injustices which, in certain instances, are deemed sufficiently gross to demand a departure from
rigid adherence to the doctrine of res judicata.” United States v. Beggerly, 524 U.S. 38, 46 (1998)
(internal quotation omitted). In order to sustain an independent action in equity, a petitioner must
show: (1) the judgment “ought not in equity and good conscience” be enforce; (2) he had a “good”
claim; (3) that “fraud, accident or mistake” prevented him from obtaining the benefit of his claim;
(4) “the absence of fault or negligence” on his part; and (5) the absence of any adequate remedy at
law. Great Coastal Express, Inc. v. Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters, 675 F.2d 1349, 1358 (4th Cir. 1982).
Where a Rule 60 motion directly attacks a conviction or sentence, instead of seeking to
remedy a defect in the collateral review process, the court treats such a motion as a successive
petition for post-conviction relief. See United States v. Winestock, 340 F.3d 200, 207 (4th Cir.
2003), abrogated in part on other grounds by United States v. McRae, 793 F.3d 392 (4th Cir. 2015)
(addressing Rule 60(b)). To certify a second or successive § 2255 motion for filing with this Court,
the court of appeals must find that the motion contains either: “(1) newly discovered evidence that,
if proven and viewed in light of the evidence as a whole, would be sufficient to establish by clear
and convincing evidence that no reasonable factfinder would have found the movant guilty of the
offense; or (2) 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). Without such prefiling authorization, the district court lacks jurisdiction to consider a successive application. See
Winestock, 340 F.3d at 205. A second-in-time § 2255 motion will not, however, be successive
when “the facts relied on by the movant seeking resentencing did not exist when numerically first
motion was filed and adjudicated.” United States v. Hairston, 754 F.3d 258, 262 (4th Cir. 2014).
The Defendant has failed to demonstrate the existence of any fraud, accident, or mistake
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that prevented him from obtaining § 2255 relief. The record reflects that he presented his § 2255
claims, they were denied, and his appeal was dismissed. He then repeatedly attempted to assert
successive § 2255 claims without first obtaining leave from the Fourth Circuit pursuant to §
2255(h). His present attempt to yet present § 2255 claims without first obtaining leave from the
Fourth Circuit is another unauthorized attempt to file a successive § 2255 petition over which the
Court lacks jurisdiction. Nor is the Defendant without an adequate remedy at law; he may petition
the Fourth Circuit for authorization to file a successive § 2255 petition pursuant to § 2255(h) based
on retroactive changes in the law.
IV.

CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Defendant’s pro se “Motion Requesting Permission to File

Attached F.R.Cv.P. Rule 60(d)(1) Independent Action for Relief of Habeas Corpus 2255
Judgment,” (Doc. No. 1077), is construed as an unauthorized second or successive motion to
vacate and it is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED that:
1.

Defendant’s pro se “Motion Requesting Permission to File Attached F.R.Cv.P.
Rule 60(d)(1) Independent Action for Relief of Habeas Corpus 2255 Judgment,”
(Doc. No. 1077), is construed as an unauthorized successive § 2255 motion to
vacate and is DISMISSED.

2.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that pursuant to Rule 11(a) of the Rules Governing
Section 2254 and Section 2255 Cases, this Court declines to issue a certificate of
appealability. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2); Miller–El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322,
338 (2003) (in order to satisfy § 2253(c), a petitioner must demonstrate that
reasonable jurists would find the district court’s assessment of the constitutional
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claims debatable or wrong); Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000) (when
relief is denied on procedural grounds, a petitioner must establish both that the
dispositive procedural ruling is debatable and that the petition states a debatable
claim of the denial of a constitutional right).
3.

The Clerk is respectfully instructed to docket a copy of the Motion and this Order
in civil case number 3:99-cv-61-FDW.
Signed: September 8, 2021

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