Bradin v. Thomas

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 13, 2020
Docket19-3093
StatusUnpublished

This text of Bradin v. Thomas (Bradin v. Thomas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bradin v. Thomas, (10th Cir. 2020).

Opinion

FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT August 13, 2020 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court JOHN BRADIN,

Petitioner - Appellant,

v. Nos. 19-3093 & 19-3190 (D.C. No. 5:19-CV-03041-JWL) LINDA THOMAS, Warden; UNITED (D. Kan.) STATES BOARD OF PROBATION & PAROLE,

Respondents - Appellees. _________________________________

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* _________________________________

Before TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge, HOLMES and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

John Bradin, a federal prisoner proceeding pro se, appeals from the district

court’s denial of his motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary

injunction (No. 19-3093) and its final judgment on his 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition for a

writ of habeas corpus (No. 19-3190). We have procedurally consolidated the two

appeals for disposition. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

* After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. I. BACKGROUND

In 1975, Mr. Bradin was convicted in the United States District Court for the

Western District of Missouri on federal bank robbery charges and sentenced to

fifteen years’ imprisonment. He was released on parole in 1980. Between January

1986 and July 1989, Mr. Bradin was arrested for three parole violations, which

resulted in two additional terms of confinement. He was released on parole again in

May 1991.

In September 1992, the United States Parole Commission (USPC)1 issued a

warrant for Mr. Bradin’s arrest for parole violations based on charges in two separate

criminal actions pending in Missouri state court. In a memorandum to the warrant,

the USPC instructed that if Mr. Bradin was already in state custody (which he was),

the warrant should not be executed, but a detainer should be placed instead. The

USPC supplemented the warrant in 1993 with information regarding Mr. Bradin’s

convictions in Missouri state court, where he was sentenced to twenty-five years’

imprisonment for his crimes in the two criminal actions.

In November 2018, after Mr. Bradin finished serving his state sentences, the

United States Marshals Service executed the 1992 warrant that had been lodged as a

detainer and took him into federal custody. He was initially housed at the

Leavenworth Detention Center in Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon execution of the

1 In naming the respondents to his § 2241 petition, Mr. Bradin incorrectly identified the USPC as the “United States Board of Probation and Parole.” 2 warrant, the USPC was authorized to revoke his parole and impose up to 1,602 days

of confinement for his parole violations.

Before the USPC held a parole revocation hearing, Mr. Bradin filed his § 2241

habeas petition in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. He

sought release from custody or to a halfway house based on a number of grounds for

relief regarding the use of the detainer, the delay in providing a revocation hearing,

his inability to serve his state and federal sentences concurrently, and his eligibility

for compassionate release under the First Step Act of 2018. He also filed a motion

for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a preliminary injunction (PI) concerning

(1) respondents’ alleged refusal to mail his § 2241 petition and (2) a box of his

personal property the Missouri Department of Corrections held that allegedly

included evidence both crucial to his petition and showing that the Social Security

Administration unlawfully seized his social security benefits for over 26 years, which

he wanted to use to hire counsel of choice.

The district court denied the TRO/PI motion and appointed the Kansas Federal

Public Defender (FPD) to represent Mr. Bradin. Despite the FPD’s representation,

Mr. Bradin continued filing pro se motions. He also filed a pro se appeal of the order

denying the TRO/PI motion. In some of his pro se motions, Mr. Bradin indicated he

did not want the FPD as his counsel and asked the court to order the release of his

Social Security funds so he could hire his own attorney. After a status conference on

the issue of appointed counsel, the court ordered that if Mr. Bradin wished to

continue with the FPD, he had to notify the court in writing by a date certain or the

3 court would withdraw the appointment. When Mr. Bradin did not respond, the court

withdrew the appointment.

Eventually, the district court ruled on the § 2241 petition, denying it in part

and dismissing it in part, and entered a separate judgment. Mr. Bradin filed a notice

of appeal from the separate judgment. We defer further discussion of the district

court’s rulings until our analysis of Mr. Bradin’s appellate arguments.

II. DISCUSSION

Mr. Bradin’s pro se appellate brief lacks clarity.2 But we must afford it (and

his other pro se filings) a liberal construction, albeit without acting as his attorney.

See Yang v. Archuleta, 525 F.3d 925, 927 n.1 (10th Cir. 2008). So doing, we discern

the following issues in his brief and address them in order of analytical convenience.

A. Challenges to the district court’s jurisdiction over § 2241 petition

1. Standing Order 18-3

Mr. Bradin argues that the district court lacked jurisdiction to rule on his

§ 2241 petition because at the time he was housed at the Leavenworth Detention

Center, the Center recorded attorney-client meetings between federal detainees and

their attorneys, and the United States Attorney’s Office in Kansas City, Kansas,

obtained some of those recordings. Based on an assumption that the Center recorded

his communications with counsel, Mr. Bradin contends that the District of Kansas’s

2 The USPC elected not to file a response brief, so Mr. Bradin’s opening brief is the sole brief on appeal.

4 Standing Order No. 18-3 required the district court to transfer his § 2241 case to

Chief Judge Julie Robinson, and its failure to do so deprived the court of jurisdiction.

We disagree.

The District of Kansas issued Standing Order No. 18-3 to address possible

postconviction Sixth Amendment violations caused by the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s

access to the recorded meetings, as described in United States v. Carter,

429 F. Supp. 3d 788 (D. Kan. 2019), vacated in part by United States v. Carter,

No. 16-20032-02-JAR, 2020 WL 430739 (D. Kan. Jan. 28, 2020). In relevant part,

Standing Order No. 18-3 provides:

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