Hahn v. United States

CourtDistrict Court, D. New Mexico
DecidedFebruary 7, 2024
Docket1:21-cv-00880
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Hahn v. United States, (D.N.M. 2024).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO

MARCUS HAHN,

Petitioner,

v. No. 21-cv-0880 KWR/DLM

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Respondent. PROPOSED FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDED DISPOSITION RECOMMENDING DENIAL OF RESPONDENT’S LIMITED ANSWER SEEKING DISMISSAL OF HAHN’S CLAIMS AND ORDER FOR COMPLETE ANSWER

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Petitioner Marcus Hahn’s Amended Motion Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence or Judgment by a Person in Federal Custody (“Amended Motion”), filed September 19, 2022. (Doc. 15.) United States District Judge Kea W. Riggs referred the case to the undersigned to make proposed findings and a recommended disposition. (Doc. 30.) After careful review and consideration of the filings, I find that the Court has jurisdiction over the Amended Motion because it is not “second or successive.” Accordingly, I recommend the Court deny Respondent’s Limited Answer (Doc. 24) seeking dismissal of some of Hahn’s claims for lack of jurisdiction and order Respondent to file a complete answer to the Amended Motion. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In 2000, a jury convicted Hahn of manufacturing 100 or more marijuana plants and of opening and maintaining a place for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing and using marijuana (Counts 1 and 2). United States v. Hahn, No. 00cr82, Doc. 184 (D.N.M.); see Hahn v. Moseley, 931 F.3d 295, 297 (4th Cir. 2019). The jury also convicted Hahn of possessing a firearm in furtherance of the manufacture of marijuana in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (Count 3) and of possessing a firearm in furtherance of the maintenance of a place to manufacture, distribute and use marijuana also in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (Count 4). Hahn, No. 00cr82, Doc. 184. The Sentencing Court imposed a sentence of 60 months for Count 1, 27 months for Count 2 (to run concurrently with the Count 1 sentence), 120 months for the first § 924(c) violation (Count 3), and

300 months for the second § 924(c) violation (Count 4). Hahn, No. 00cr82, Doc. 133. The term for Count 3 was consecutive to Counts 1 and 2, and the term for Count 4 was consecutive to all other terms, for a total sentence of forty years. Id. The Sentencing Court also ordered supervised release for four years for Count 1, three years for Counts 2 and 3, and five years for Count 4, all terms to run concurrently. Id. In 2016, Hahn filed a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. Hahn v. Moseley, 931 F.3d 295, 300 (4th Cir. 2019). Hahn argued that due to changes in Tenth Circuit law with respect to 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), he was legally innocent of Count 4. Id. The District Court of South Carolina denied the petition, and Hahn

appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Id. The Fourth Circuit granted the petition, reversed the district court decision, and remanded with instructions to vacate Hahn’s 300-month sentence on Count 4. Id. at 304. The District Court of South Carolina then entered an order stating that the “remaining convictions, and the sentences associated with them, remain in place, resulting in a sentence of 60 months on Count 1, a concurrent 27-month sentence on Count 2, and a consecutive 120-month sentence on Count 3, for a total custodial sentence of 180 months. All other aspects of the original sentence remain in place.” United States v. Hahn, C/A No. 9:16-3235-JFA- BM, Doc. 59 (D.S.C. Oct. 15, 2019); see Hahn, No. 00cr82, Doc. 209. The Sentencing Court in this district issued an amended judgment sentencing Hahn to 180 months. Hahn, No. 00cr82, Docs. 196, 209. After Hahn requested clarification of its order, the District Court of South Carolina entered another order stating: To clarify, this Court (1) grants [Hahn]’s Petition for habeas corpus, (2) vacates his conviction and sentence for Count IV, (3) allows the sentencing court in the District of New Mexico to issue an amended judgment in accordance with this Court’s Order (ECF No. 59), and (4) this Court does not preclude the sentencing court in the District of New Mexico from exercising its discretion to resentence the [Hahn] de novo under the “sentencing package” doctrine. United States v. Hahn, C/A No. 9:16-3235-JFA-BM, Doc. 62 (D.S.C. Nov. 4, 2019). Hahn then filed a motion titled “Motion for Status Conference and Motion for Reconsideration of this Court’s Amended Judgment or, in the Alternative, Motion to Correct Sentence Under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(a)” (the “Motion for Reconsideration”). Hahn, No. 00cr82, Doc. 202. In that motion, Hahn asked the Sentencing Court to “reconsider its amended judgment to account for” the District Court of South Carolina’s “clarified” order and the sentencing package doctrine, under which courts may “resentence a defendant on convictions that remain after he succeeds in getting one or more convictions vacated.” Id. at 1 (quoting United States v. Hicks, 146 F.3d 1198, 1202 (10th Cir. 1998)). The Sentencing Court characterized the Motion for Reconsideration as a substantive challenge to the amended judgment and construed it “as a § 2255 habeas petition, not a true Rule 60(b) motion.” Hahn, No. 00cr82, Doc. 209 at 8. It then granted Hahn’s request for a resentencing hearing under the sentencing package doctrine, holding that “[t]he sentence in 00-82, in its entirety, was one aggregate sentence and one ‘unified term of imprisonment’” because Count 4 “is interdependent of its underlying felony, Count 2” and the “sentences in Counts 1–3 also ran consecutively to the sentence in Count 4.” Id. at 11–12 (quoting United States v. Easterling, 157 F.3d 1220, 1224 (10th Cir. 1998)). It found that, by vacating Court 4, “the District Court of South Carolina ‘unbundled’ the aggregate sentence in 00- 82,” which “potentially undermin[ed] the Court’s original sentencing intent for the overall sentence.” Hahn, No. 00cr82, Doc. 209 at 11–12. It held that, therefore, “[u]nder the sentencing package doctrine, resentencing on the remaining counts of 00-82 is proper.” Id. at 12. In addition to the Motion for Reconsideration, Hahn filed a motion for reduction of his Count 3 sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i) from 10 years to 5 years in keeping with a change in the mandatory minimum sentence for such crimes. Hahn, No. 00cr82, Doc. 220 at 1. He

argued that, even if the Court did not reduce his sentence for that reason, the Court should reduce the sentence for Count 3 because there were “extraordinary and compelling reasons” to do so. Id. (quoting § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i)). On September 25, 2020, the Sentencing Court, after a hearing at which Hahn was present, amended Hahn’s sentence by increasing the sentence for Count 2 and decreasing the sentence for Count 3 (the “Second Amended Judgment”). Hahn, No. 00cr82, Doc. 251.

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