Dowdell v. United States

859 F. Supp. 2d 176, 2012 WL 1288492, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52077
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedApril 13, 2012
DocketCivil No. 10-11806-NMG
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 859 F. Supp. 2d 176 (Dowdell v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dowdell v. United States, 859 F. Supp. 2d 176, 2012 WL 1288492, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52077 (D. Mass. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

GORTON, District Judge.

On May 31, 2007, Darryl Dowdell (“Dowdell” or “petitioner”) was convicted in this Court of one count of distributing cocaine base and sentenced to 198 months imprisonment. On direct appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Dowdell asserted that 1) the delay between his indictment by state authorities and his ultimate trial in federal court violated his Sixth Amendment speedy trial rights and the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (“IAD”), 2) the district court’s amendment of the indictment from “cocaine” to “cocaine base” violated the presentment clause of the Fifth Amendment and 3) the trial court abused its discretion on various evidentiary rulings. His conviction was affirmed on February 17, 2010.

On October 21, 2010, Dowdell filed a timely motion to vacate his conviction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 on the grounds that he was deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel by attorneys Robert Murray (Ground One), Victoria Bonilla (Ground Two) and Kevin Barron (Ground Three).

The government filed a preliminary memorandum seeking the summary dismissal of Grounds One and Two of the motion to vacate. It noted therein:

This preliminary memorandum is not intended to be a comprehensive response to the 2255 Petition but merely one which raises summary disposition issues on the IAD claims in a manner the government hopes will be helpful to the Court. If the Court concludes that a more formal response is required, the government will of course do so and will fully brief all grounds on which the requested relief should be denied.

Petitioner has since moved for an order requiring the government to file a status report detailing its efforts to file a response to Ground Three of his petition.

The government moved to compel the testimony of third-party counsel and the production of certain documents pertaining to petitioner’s motion to vacate. Oppositions have been filed by the third-party attorneys from whom the government seeks discovery. On January 31, 2011, petitioner moved for leave to file a partial amendment of his motion to vacate, which the government has opposed.

The § 2255 petition and related motions are pending before the Court.

I. Standard of Review

Section 2255 of Title 28 of the United States Code is the mechanism by which a prisoner in federal custody who was convicted in federal district court and whose conviction was upheld on direct review by a federal court of appeals may collaterally challenge his conviction. When presented with a § 2255 petition, the federal district court with jurisdiction over the case will “vacate, set aside or correct the sentence” if:

the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States, ... the court was without jurisdiction to impose such a sentence, or ... the sentence was in excess of the maximum authorized by law, or is otherwise subject to collateral attack.

28 U.S.C. § 2255(a). In light of the fact that a § 2255 petitioner has already had [178]*178his conviction and sentence reviewed by a federal court, collateral relief under § 2255 is “an extraordinary remedy, available only on a sufficient showing of fundamental unfairness.” Singleton v. United States, 26 F.3d 233, 236 (1st Cir.1994). To avoid duplicative litigation, § 2255 relief is not available for issues that were decided on direct appeal. Id. at 240.

The Rules Governing Section 2255 Proceedings for the United States District Courts set forth a three-step process for reviewing § 2255 motions: 1) preliminary screening, 2) review to determine the necessity of holding an evidentiary hearing after discovery and expansion of the record and 3) decision following an evidentiary hearing. A district court will deny the motion at the preliminary screening stage if “it plainly appears from the motion, any attached exhibits, and the record of prior proceedings that the moving party is not entitled to relief.” Rule 4(b). The First Circuit has described this standard as similar to the one governing Rule 12(b)(6) motions to dismiss under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, explaining that a § 2255 petition should be summarily dismissed

if the [movant’s] allegations, accepted as true, would not entitle [ him] to relief, or if the allegations cannot be accepted as true because they are contradicted by the record, inherently incredible, or conclusions rather than statements of fact.

Dziurgot v. Luther, 897 F.2d 1222, 1225 (1st Cir.1990).

If a motion is not dismissed at the preliminary screening stage, the district court will order the United States to respond. Rules 4(b) and 5. The court may also 1) order discovery upon a showing of “good cause,” 2) direct parties to submit additional materials to expand the record and 3) hold an evidentiary hearing, if warranted. Rules 6, 7 and 8. Judges sitting in review of § 2255 petitions are

at liberty to employ the knowledge gleaned during previous proceedings and make findings based thereon without convening an additional hearing.

United States v. McGill, 11 F.3d 223, 225 (1st Cir.1993). Indeed, evidentiary hearings on § 2255 petitions “are the exception, not the norm,” and petitioners bear a “heavy burden” to demonstrate that one is warranted. Moreno-Morales v. United States, 334 F.3d 140, 145 (1st Cir.2003).

II. Preliminary Screening

The United States contends that the petitioner is plainly not entitled to relief, at least with respect to Grounds One and Two, because petitioner’s IAD claim was already found by the First Circuit to be without merit and cannot be re-litigated under the guise of a Sixth Amendment challenge. This Court agrees.

On direct appeal, the First Circuit considered and rejected petitioner’s claim that the delay between his state indictment and federal trial violated the IAD. United States v. Dowdell, 595 F.3d 50, 63-66 (1st Cir.2010). By failing to assert his IAD rights in a timely manner or even bring them to the attention of the trial court, Dowdell forfeited those rights on appeal. Id. at 64. The First Circuit went on to find that Dowdell did not have a colorable IAD claim when he filed his speedy trial motion and, by requesting multiple continuances, Dowdell “may very well have waived [the claim] altogether.” Id. at 65-66. To summarize, the First Circuit ruled that Dowdell did not have a colorable IAD claim but, assuming arguendo that he did, he either waived or forfeited it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
859 F. Supp. 2d 176, 2012 WL 1288492, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52077, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dowdell-v-united-states-mad-2012.