Arrington v. ACEYADO

533 F. Supp. 2d 834, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9020, 2008 WL 345544
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 7, 2008
Docket07-CV-2147
StatusPublished

This text of 533 F. Supp. 2d 834 (Arrington v. ACEYADO) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arrington v. ACEYADO, 533 F. Supp. 2d 834, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9020, 2008 WL 345544 (C.D. Ill. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

MICHAEL P. McCUSKEY, Chief Judge.

On July 17, 2007, Petitioner, Otis Ar-rington, paid the $5.00 filing fee and filed a Petition Under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody (# 1) in the Northern District of Illinois. The case was subsequently transferred to this court.

On October 2, 2007, Respondent, Gerardo Acevado, filed a Motion to Dismiss Ha-beas Petition as Successive (# 13), with attached exhibits. On November 14, 2007, Petitioner filed his Response to the Motion to Dismiss (# 16). This court has carefully reviewed the arguments of the parties and the documents submitted to the court. Following this careful review, this court agrees with Respondent that this court does not have jurisdiction over Petitioner’s habeas petition. Therefore, Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss (# 13) is GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

In March 1990, Petitioner pled guilty in the circuit court of Vermilion County to four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of home invasion, and one count each of residential burglary, armed violence and armed robbery. Petitioner was sentenced to an aggregate term of 60 years’ imprisonment. His convictions were affirmed on direct appeal to the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District. On July 10, 1996, Petitioner filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for a writ of habe-as corpus by a person in state custody in the Northern District of Illinois. In his petition, Petitioner stated that he had filed a habeas petition in the circuit court of Vermilion County. Petitioner used a printed form in filing his federal habeas petition. The form included the following language:

CAUTION: In order to proceed in the federal court, you must ordinarily first exhaust your available state court remedies as to each ground on which you request action by the federal court. If you fail to set forth all grounds in this petition, you may be barred from presenting additional grounds at a later date.

Petitioner’s federal habeas petition was transferred to this court in March 1997 and assigned to United States District Judge Harold A. Baker. The case was assigned Case No. 2-97-2048. In the petition, Petitioner claimed: (1) his guilty plea was involuntary because it was based upon *836 a unkept promise of a 25 year sentence; (2) his guilty plea was involuntary in that the judge never asked him if he’d been threatened or promised anything in order to make him plead guilty; (3) his counsel was ineffective at the guilty plea hearing; (4) he was subject to a warrantless arrest; (5) his confession was coerced; (6) his constitutional privilege against self-incrimination was violated; (7) his motion to withdraw his guilty plea was unconstitutionally denied; and (8) he was never indicted by a grand jury.

On January 22, 1998, Judge Baker entered an Order which denied the petition. Judge Baker stated that Petitioner’s claims (3)-(8) had not been raised before the Illinois state courts and were procedurally defaulted. Judge Baker noted that these claims were not raised in Petitioner’s direct appeal and that his state post-conviction petition was dismissed as untimely. Judge Baker then found Petitioner’s claims (1) and (2) to be without merit. Judge Baker therefore entered judgment in favor of the respondent and against Petitioner.

As noted previously, Petitioner again filed a federal habeas petition in the Northern District of Illinois on July 17, 2007. Petitioner raised three grounds for relief: (1) he was promised a sentence of 25 years if he pled guilty; (2) he was arrested in his home without a warrant; and (3) he was denied the effective assistance of counsel.

Petitioner’s petition was transferred to this court, and Respondent filed a Motion to Dismiss Habeas Petition as Successive (# 13). Petitioner has filed a response (# 16).

ANALYSIS

Respondent argues that the instant petition is a successive petition for habeas relief for which Petitioner neither sought nor received permission from the Seventh Circuit to file. Respondent therefore contends that this court lacks jurisdiction to consider that petition and must dismiss it. This court agrees.

Because Petitioner filed his Petition after April 24, 1996, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), Pub.L. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214, applies to this case. See Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U.S. 320, 336, 117 S.Ct. 2059, 138 L.Ed.2d 481 (1997). The AEDPA “established a stringent set of procedures that a prisoner ‘in custody pursuant to a judgment of a State court,’ 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a), must follow if he wishes to file a ‘second or successive’ habeas corpus application challenging that custody, § 2244(b)(1).” Burton v. Stewart, 549 U.S. 147, 127 S.Ct. 793, 796, 166 L.Ed.2d 628 (2007). In pertinent part, before filing the application in the district court, a prisoner “shall move in the appropriate court of appeals for an order authorizing the district court to consider the application.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A); Burton, 127 S.Ct. at 796. “A three-judge panel of the court of appeals may authorize the filing of the second or successive application only if it presents a claim not previously raised that satisfies one of the two grounds articulated in § 2244(b)(2).” Burton, 127 S.Ct. at 796, citing 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(C).

In this case, there is no question that Petitioner has already filed a habeas petition which was considered and denied on the merits. He had “one clean shot at establishing his entitlement to relief in a federal habeas corpus proceeding.” See Heidelberg v. Chambers, 2007 WL 4404180, at *2 (C.D.Ill.2007), quoting Pavlovsky v. VanNatta, 431 F.3d 1063, 1065 (7th Cir.2005). Therefore, his instant petition is a “second or successive” habeas petition for which he did not seek, much less obtain, authorization to file from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. As a *837 result, this court does not have jurisdiction to entertain the petition. See Burton, 127 S.Ct. at 796; Heidelberg, 2007 WL 4404180, at *2-3.

In his Response, Petitioner argues that he should be allowed to proceed with his petition. He stated that, following the denial of his first habeas petition, the Illinois appellate court overturned the finding that his post-conviction petition was untimely. He stated that he had an evidentiary hearing regarding his post-conviction petition in December 2004. 2

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Related

Lindh v. Murphy
521 U.S. 320 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Burton v. Stewart
549 U.S. 147 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Pavlovsky, Gilbert W v. VanNatta, John R.
431 F.3d 1063 (Seventh Circuit, 2005)

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Bluebook (online)
533 F. Supp. 2d 834, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9020, 2008 WL 345544, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arrington-v-aceyado-ilcd-2008.