Derrick Hills v. Warden Loretto FCI

597 F. App'x 669
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit·Decided January 12, 2015·No. 14-3950·Unpublished·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

OPINION *

PER CURIAM.

Appellant Derrick Hills appeals from an order of the District Court dismissing his habeas corpus petition, 28 U.S.C. § 2241, without prejudice. For the reasons that follow, we will summarily affirm.

In March, 2007, the United States Trustee filed an adversary proceeding in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleging that Hills had violated numerous provisions of the federal bankruptcy code, and that he had engaged in the unlicensed practice of law by holding himself out to be a bankruptcy petition preparer. There apparently were other similar adversary proceedings that the Trustee had filed against Hills in other debtors’ bankruptcy cases. Hills disregarded various injunctions and violated orders imposed by the bankruptcy court, and, based on that conduct, in April, 2009, the bankruptcy judge requested that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan punish Hills’ contempt under 18 U.S.C. § 401(3). In May, 2009, a U.S. District Judge in the *391 Eastern District of Michigan issued Hills an order to show cause why he should not be held in criminal contempt pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 401(3), and then calendared the matter for trial, see In re: Hills, D.C.Crim. No. 12-cr-12254. The matter was tried before a jury in September, 2013, and he was convicted of five counts of criminal contempt. Hills was released in advance of sentencing, and, when he failed to appear for his sentencing hearing in February, 2014, the District Court revoked his bond and issued a warrant for his arrest. Hills eventually was arrested and sentenced on March 10, 2014 to a term of imprisonment of 46 months.

Hills timely appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of' Appeals, see C.A. No. 14-1361, an appeal which remains pending. He moved for bail pending appeal, and, in an order filed on June 13, 2014, the Sixth Circuit denied his motion, concluding, in pertinent part, that there was no merit to his claim that he was not properly advised of the charges against him because he was served with an order to show cause as provided by Fed.R.Crim.P. 42(a)(1) and with a statement of the particulars against him, and that his claim that a six-month sentence is the maximum punishment for criminal contempt had no basis in the law. The Sixth Circuit also concluded that Hills failed to show that he was not a flight risk.

At issue in this appeal, Hills, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Loretto, Pennsylvania, filed a petition for writ of writ of habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2241, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, seeking release “with or without bond,” (Petition, at ¶ 9), in which he claimed that the maximum punishment for his crimes is six months, that the Government did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and that criminal Rule 42(a) was violated because he was convicted without an arraignment, among other claims. Hills contended that the federal district judge in Michigan was biased against him, and he stated that he had filed a judicial misconduct complaint against the judge. The Magistrate Judge issued a Report and Recommendation, recommending that Hills’ section 2241 petition be dismissed without prejudice due to his pending appeal in the Sixth Circuit. The Magistrate Judge also recommended that bail be denied. Hills filed Objections. In an order entered on August 21, 2014, the District Court approved and adopted the Magistrate Judge’s report, found Hills’ objections meritless, and denied the § 2241 petition. Hills filed a timely motion for reconsideration, which the District Court denied in an order entered on September 23, 2014.

Hills appeals. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. See Burkey v. Marberry, 556 F.3d 142, 146 (3d Cir.2009) (certificate of appealability not required to appeal from denial of § 2241 petition). Our Clerk advised Hills that the appeal was subject to summary action under Third Cir. LAR 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6. He was invited to submit argument in writing, and he has done so. He also has filed a number of motions on appeal, including a motion for bail. The Government has also filed a response.

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Derrick Hills v. Warden Loretto FCI, 597 F. App'x 669 (3d Cir. 2015).

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