Dixon v. United States

CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJuly 31, 2025
Docket25-299
StatusUnpublished

This text of Dixon v. United States (Dixon v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dixon v. United States, (uscfc 2025).

Opinion

In the United States Court of Federal Claims

DEMARK DIXON,

Plaintiff, No. 25-cv-299 v. Filed: July 31, 2025 THE UNITED STATES,

Defendant.

Demark Dixon, Virginia Beach, Virginia, appearing pro se.

William James Grimaldi of the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, D.C., appearing for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

For nearly three decades, pro se Plaintiff Demark Dixon has challenged his 1997 and 1998

federal convictions and imprisonment for conspiracy to commit bank robbery, bank robbery, use

of a firearm, and racketeering. In this action, Plaintiff seeks compensation for these allegedly

unlawful convictions and imprisonment. However, as Plaintiff himself acknowledges, he has yet

to obtain a certificate of innocence—a predicate to recovery for unjust conviction. 28 U.S.C. §§

1495, 2513. Plaintiff also alleges a violation of his right to due process under the Fifth

Amendment, but it is well-established that this Court lacks jurisdiction over such claims.

Pending before the Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint pursuant

to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (Rules).

ECF No. 9 (Motion or Mot.). Because Plaintiff has failed to establish that this Court has subject

matter jurisdiction over his claims and, alternatively, has failed to state a claim upon which relief

can be granted, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED. BACKGROUND

I. Plaintiff’s Convictions and Subsequent Challenges to His Convictions

On December 5, 1997, a jury in in the Southern District of New York convicted Plaintiff

of conspiracy to commit bank robbery, bank robbery, and use of a firearm. United States v.

Rahman, 166 F.3d 1202 (2d. Cir. 1998) (unpublished table decision); ECF No. 1 (Complaint or

Compl.) at 3 (“I lost trial in the Southern District [of New York] by the above defendant.”); ECF

No. 13 at 1. Plaintiff was sentenced to 147 months imprisonment followed by a three-year term

of supervised release. United States v. Rahman, No. 97-498-8 (S.D.N.Y.) (ECF No. 88); Mot. at

2. 1

On February 19, 1998, Plaintiff pled guilty to racketeering (specifically involving robbery

and conspiracy to commit robbery) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of

New York and was sentenced to a term of 120 months imprisonment and a three-year term of

supervised release. Dixon v. United States, No. 14-cv-1223, 2018 WL 910522, at *1−2 (E.D.N.Y

Feb. 14, 2018); ECF No. 1-1 at 27−40 (Superseding Indictment); Compl. at 3 (noting Plaintiff’s

guilty plea in the Eastern District of New York). Plaintiff was released from prison in 2010.2

Compl. at 4; Mot. at 2.

Plaintiff has unsuccessfully challenged these convictions for nearly three decades. Compl.

at 3 (“For over 26 years, this petitioner has been fighting the above defendant, about this unlawful

1 Citations throughout this Memorandum and Order reference the ECF-assigned page numbers, which do not always correspond to the pagination within the document. 2 In 2000, Plaintiff pled guilty to another offense in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and was sentenced to 55 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release. United States v. Shaw et al., No. 99-cr-525-3 (E.D. Pa.) (ECF Nos. 1, 305, 692). However, Plaintiff does not appear to raise claims pertaining to that imprisonment in this action. See Compl. at 2 (describing the case underlying his claim here as “a very high profile case that covered both Eastern & Southern Districts of New York”).

2 conviction . . . .”); see, e.g., Dixon v. United States, No. 24-cv-4312, 2024 WL 3413735 (S.D.N.Y.

July 15, 2024) (denying Plaintiff’s petition for writ of coram nobis); id. at *3 (“Courts have

repeatedly affirmed that the evidence introduced at Petitioner’s trial was adequate to demonstrate

Petitioner’s guilt and have rejected Petitioner’s claims of actual innocence.”); Dixon, 2018 WL

910522, at *8 (denying Plaintiff’s petition for writ of coram nobis in the Eastern District of New

York).

II. Plaintiff’s Complaint in this Court

On February 19, 2025, Plaintiff filed his Complaint in this Court, contending that he is

entitled to compensation for two reasons. 3 Compl. at 1−3. First, Plaintiff claims that his

convictions and imprisonment were unlawful. Specifically, he alleges that Government

“witnesses/informants committed perjury” during his trial, contends his counsel withheld crucial

alibi evidence from the Court, and claims that he was threatened into pleading guilty in the Eastern

District of New York. Id. Second, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant violated his Fifth Amendment

right to due process. Id. at 1 (“[D]efendant violated petitioners [sic] [Fif]th Amendment of the

Constitution, ‘to protect citizens from criminal prosecution and punishment without due process,

and fair trials . . . .’”). In support of his claims, Plaintiff attaches to his Complaint various

3 In addition to the United States, Plaintiff names the Southern District of New York as a Defendant in this action and references the conduct of the prosecutor and Plaintiff’s court-appointed counsel involved in Plaintiff’s trial in the Southern District of New York. Compl. at 1–3; ECF No. 1-3 at 1. It is well established that this Court may only hear claims against the United States. United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 588 (1941) (“[I]f the relief sought is against others than the United States the suit as to them must be ignored as beyond the jurisdiction of [this] court.”); Brown v. United States, 105 F.3d 621, 624 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (“The Tucker Act grants the Court of Federal Claims jurisdiction over suits against the United States, not against individual federal officials.”). Thus, the Court dismisses all claims not brought against the United States. Additionally, the Court understands Plaintiff’s Complaint to also challenge his conviction in the Eastern District of New York, as well as his conviction in the Southern District of New York, as Plaintiff references both convictions and conduct occurring within both districts in his Complaint. See, e.g., Compl at 2 (“The above defendant for both districts, shared the same discovery material and Government witnesses.” (emphasis omitted)).

3 documents which he claims demonstrate his innocence and the unlawfulness of his conviction and

imprisonment, including incarceration records, written statements from individuals, and other

documents that Plaintiff contends substantiate his alibi, ECF No. 1-1 at 1–3, 54–75; Plaintiff’s

Motion for Reconsideration of the denial of his writ of coram nobis in the Southern District of

New York, id. at 7–11; a complaint of alleged prosecutorial misconduct Plaintiff filed in 2024, id.

at 4–6; transcripts and other documentation related to Plaintiff’s convictions, id. at 13–53; and a

news article pertaining to the underlying offense, id. at 12. 4 Although Plaintiff asserts that this

evidence demonstrates his innocence, Plaintiff readily acknowledges that he has not obtained a

certificate of innocence from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New

York, and Plaintiff likewise does not allege that he has obtained a certificate of innocence from

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Sherwood
312 U.S. 584 (Supreme Court, 1941)
Estelle v. Gamble
429 U.S. 97 (Supreme Court, 1976)
United States v. Mitchell
463 U.S. 206 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Erickson v. Pardus
551 U.S. 89 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Phu Mang Phang v. United States
388 F. App'x 961 (Federal Circuit, 2010)
Tyco Healthcare Group LP v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.
587 F.3d 1375 (Federal Circuit, 2009)
RadioShack Corp. v. United States
566 F.3d 1358 (Federal Circuit, 2009)
Cambridge v. United States
558 F.3d 1331 (Federal Circuit, 2009)
Roynell Joshua v. The United States, on Motion
17 F.3d 378 (Federal Circuit, 1994)
Roland A. Leblanc v. United States
50 F.3d 1025 (Federal Circuit, 1995)
Kissi v. United States
493 F. App'x 57 (Federal Circuit, 2012)
Smith v. United States
709 F.3d 1114 (Federal Circuit, 2013)
Estes Express Lines v. United States
739 F.3d 689 (Federal Circuit, 2014)
Marcum LLP v. United States
753 F.3d 1380 (Federal Circuit, 2014)
Kenyon v. United States
683 F. App'x 945 (Federal Circuit, 2017)
Nyabwa v. United States
696 F. App'x 493 (Federal Circuit, 2017)
St. Bernard Parish Government v. United States
916 F.3d 987 (Federal Circuit, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Dixon v. United States, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dixon-v-united-states-uscfc-2025.