Barnes v. United States

102 F. App'x 441
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 29, 2004
DocketNo. 03-5872
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 102 F. App'x 441 (Barnes v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barnes v. United States, 102 F. App'x 441 (6th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

ORDER

James Noble Barnes, a federal prisoner proceeding pro se, appeals a district court order dismissing his motion to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence, filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. This case has been referred to a panel of the court pursuant to Rule 34(j)(1), Rules of the Sixth Circuit. Upon examination, this panel unanimously agrees that oral argument is not needed. Fed. R.App. P. 34(a).

A jury convicted Barnes in May 1993 of one count of possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and one count of using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). He was sentenced to consecutive prison terms totaling 181 months and the judgment was affirmed on appeal. See United States v. Barnes, 49 F.3d 1144 (6th Cir.1995). Barnes’s initial motion to vacate under § 2255 was denied and Barnes did not appeal. In May 2002, Barnes applied to this court for leave to file a second or successive § 2255 motion, asserting claims under Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. 137, 116 S.Ct. 501, 133 L.Ed.2d 472 (1995), and Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). This court transferred Barnes’s Bailey claim to the district court for consideration, but denied the request as to the Apprendi claim. See In re Barnes, No. 02-5648 (6th Cir. Oct. 31, 2002).

In an order entered on June 2, 2003, the district court summarily dismissed Barnes’s motion as time-barred. On appeal, Barnes argues that the merits of his motion should be addressed under § 2241 pursuant to the savings clause of § 2255.

Upon review, we affirm the district court’s order. This court reviews de novo a district court’s decision denying relief under § 2255, and reviews its findings of fact for clear error. Mallett v. United States, 334 F.3d 491, 497 (6th Cir.2003), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 124 S.Ct. 1109, 157 L.Ed.2d 938 (2004).

A one-year statute of limitations applies to a motion to vacate sentence under § 2255. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (sixth ¶); Dunlap v. United States, 250 F.3d 1001, 1004-05 (6th Cir.2001). A federal prisoner must file his motion to vacate within one year of the date on which: (1) the judgment of conviction becomes final; (2) a governmental impediment to making the motion is removed; (3) a right was newly recognized by the Supreme Court and made retroactive to cases on collateral review; or (4) the facts supporting the claim could have been discovered with due diligence. 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (sixth ¶). A prisoner, such as Barnes, whose conviction became final prior to the effective date of AEDPA had a one-year grace period, or until April 24, 1997, in which to timely file a § 2255 motion. Hyatt v. United States, 207 F.3d 831, 832-33 (6th Cir.2000). In the case of a claim, like that presented by Barnes, arising under Bailey, a federal prisoner had until one year after the Supreme Court’s decision in Bousley v. United States, 523 U.S. 614, 620-21, 118 S.Ct. 1604, 140 L.Ed.2d 828 (1998), i.e., until May 18, 1999, in which to bring his § 2255 motion. See Pryor v. United States, 278 F.3d 612, 616 (6th Cir.2002). Barnes’s mo[443]*443tion to vacate, filed on April 22, 2002, is thus outside even the later limitations period calculated from the Bousley decision.

The § 2255 statute of limitations is not a jurisdictional prerequisite and is thus subject to equitable tolling. Dunlap, 250 F.3d at 1004-09. Barnes does not argue on appeal that he satisfies the factors for equitable tolling set out in Dunlap. See McClendon v. Sherman, 329 F.3d 490, 494 (6th Cir.2003). Instead, he merely argues that the case should be remanded so that the district court could hold an evidentiary hearing on the issue. However, the record of this case is sufficient to conclude that Barnes is not entitled to equitable tolling. Barnes waited approximately three years after the Bousley decision to file his motion to vacate and has clearly not demonstrated due diligence in pursuing his rights. In addition, he does not even claim that he lacked knowledge of the filing requirement.

Barnes also asserts that the district court should have converted his § 2255 motion to a habeas corpus petition under § 2241. Under highly exceptional circumstances, a federal prisoner may challenge his conviction and sentence under § 2241, instead of § 2255, if he is able to establish that his remedy under § 2255 is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (last clause in fifth ¶); United States v. Peterman, 249 F.3d 458, 461 (6th Cir.2001). The petitioner has the burden to prove that his remedy under § 2255 is inadequate or ineffective, Martin v. Perez, 319 F.3d 799, 803-04 (6th Cir.2003), and this remedy is not considered inadequate or ineffective merely because § 2255 relief previously had been denied, because the petitioner is procedurally barred from pursuing § 2255 relief, or because the petitioner has been denied permission to file a second or successive § 2255 motion. Peterman, 249 F.3d at 461.

A prisoner who can show that an intervening change in the law establishes his actual innocence can invoke the savings clause of § 2255 and proceed under § 2241. Martin, 319 F.3d at 804; Peterman, 249 F.3d at 461-62. Barnes claims that credible evidence showed that the firearm found in his vehicle had no relation to the drug offense and that he, under the holding of Bailey, thus is actually innocent of his conviction for using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime under § 924(c). See United States v. Gibbs, 182 F.3d 408, 425-27 (6th Cir.1999).

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Bluebook (online)
102 F. App'x 441, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barnes-v-united-states-ca6-2004.