Hernandez v. United States

51 F. Supp. 3d 745, 2014 WL 2927309, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88316
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 25, 2014
DocketNo. 12 C 10082
StatusPublished

This text of 51 F. Supp. 3d 745 (Hernandez v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hernandez v. United States, 51 F. Supp. 3d 745, 2014 WL 2927309, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88316 (N.D. Ill. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Chief Judge Rubén Castillo, United States District Court

Petitioner Brian Hernandez moved this Court to vacate, set aside, or correct his [749]*749sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, and the Court dismissed his petition for habeas corpus. Presently before the Court is Petitioner’s pro se motion for findings and conclusions of law pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(b) or, alternatively, relief from the Court’s dismissal of his habeas petition pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b), (R. 8, Pet’r’s Rule 52(b) Mot.); his motion to supplement his habeas corpus petition, (R. 18, Pet’r’s Mot. Suppl.); and his motion to amend his habeas petition, (R. 20, Pet’r’s Mot. Am.). For the reasons set forth below, Petitioner’s Rule 52(b) motion is granted in part and denied in part, Petitioner’s motions to supplement and amend his petition are denied, and this case is dismissed with prejudice.

RELEVANT FACTS

The relevant facts relating to Petitioner’s criminal conviction are set forth in a published opinion by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, see United States v. Morales, 655 F.3d 608 (7th Cir.2011), and are repeated here only as they pertain to Petitioner’s section 2255 petition.

Petitioner was one of sixteen individuals indicted by a federal grand jury on various racketeering-related charges in 2006. Petitioner and his codefendants were members of the Aurora Deuces, the Aurora, Illinois chapter of the Insane Deuce Nation street gang. Petitioner had risen through the ranks and was a supervisor of more junior members: he assigned missions, provided firearms for the missions, and enforced the Deuces’ rules. He had been personally involved in at least three shootings and in the Deuces’ narcotics activities. Petitioner was charged with racketeering conspiracy in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq. (“RICO”) (Count One) and narcotics conspiracy (Count Nine).

In an effort not to overwhelm the jury, and due to the logistical challenge of trying so many defendants in a single courtroom, this Court severed the case into two trials. Petitioner was grouped with the “less major players” and tried before Judge Leinenweber. After a three-month trial, a jury convicted Petitioner on both Counts. The jury made special findings that the narcotics conspiracy charged in Count One pursuant to 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846 was proven as to Petitioner and involved at least five kilograms of mixtures containing cocaine, at least 50 kilograms of mixtures containing cocaine base in the form of crack cocaine, and at least 1000 kilograms of marijuana. Petitioner was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment for each Count, to run concurrently with each other.

Petitioner filed his notice of appeal, challenging both his conviction and his sentence, on August 27, 2009. The Seventh Circuit affirmed both on August 18, 2011.1 Morales, 655 F.3d at 637-41. The Seventh Circuit held, as relevant to Petitioner, that (1) the district court’s failure to state its reasons on the record for granting the government’s motion for an anonymous jury empanelment was harmless error; (2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to further sever the proceedings; (3) the district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied the defendants’ motion for a hearing based on alleged juror misconduct; (4) the government presented sufficient evidence for a rational jury to find that Petitioner joined [750]*750the Insane Deuces’ narcotics conspiracy; and (5) the district court did not err in sentencing Petitioner. Id. The Supreme Court denied Petitioner’s petition for writ of certiorari on January 17, 2012. Hernandez v. United States, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 1121, 181 L.Ed.2d 1000 (2012).

Petitioner filed his habeas petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 on Decembér 18, 2012, (R. 1), along with a memorandum in support, (R. 3), and a supplemental pleading, (R. 4). Petitioner claimed that: (1) his sentence of life imprisonment on Count One inexcusably exceeded the 20-year statutory maximum; (2) his sentence of life imprisonment on Count Nine exceeded the 121-to-151-month statutory maximum; (3) he received ineffective assistance of counsel during the sentencing phase; (4) he was actually innocent of racketeering conspiracy; (5) he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial; (6) he received ineffective assistance of counsel on appeal; and (7) he was “convicted of a non-existing offense” because the jury did not find that he agreed to commit two predicate acts under RICO. The Court dismissed the petition on February 6, 2013, for failure to assert any valid, constitutional error. (R. 7, Min.Entry.) The Court denied a certificate of appealability. (Id.)

On February 20, 2013, Petitioner moved the Court to amend its findings pursuant to Rule 52(b) or, alternatively, to relieve Petitioner from the judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b). (R. 8, Pet’r’s Rule 52(b) Mot.) Petitioner argues that as a pro se petitioner, he is entitled to a liberal construction of his pleadings. (Id. at 2-3) (citing Haines v. Kemer, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972)). Petitioner contends that the Court should not have dismissed his petition because his factual allegations were not “clearly baseless.” (Id.) (quoting Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 32, 112 S.Ct. 1728, 118 L.Ed.2d 340 (1992)).

A week later, on February 28, 2013, Petitioner filed his notice of appeal to the Seventh Circuit. (R. 9, Not. of Appeal.)

While his Rule 52(b) motion and the appeal were pending, Petitioner filed a motion for leave to supplement his petition, (R. 18), and a motion to amend his petition, (R. 20). In his motion to supplement his petition, filed on March 29, 2013, Petitioner argues that grounds one and two of his petition should be supplemented on the basis of the oral arguments made in Alleyne v. United States, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 2151, 186 L.Ed.2d 314 (2013), and the decisions in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), and Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004). (R. 18, Pet’r’s Mot.

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Related

Haines v. Kerner
404 U.S. 519 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Murray v. Carrier
477 U.S. 478 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Teague v. Lane
489 U.S. 288 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Denton v. Hernandez
504 U.S. 25 (Supreme Court, 1992)
Schlup v. Delo
513 U.S. 298 (Supreme Court, 1995)
United States v. Watts
519 U.S. 148 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Apprendi v. New Jersey
530 U.S. 466 (Supreme Court, 2000)
Clay v. United States
537 U.S. 522 (Supreme Court, 2003)
Blakely v. Washington
542 U.S. 296 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. Booker
543 U.S. 220 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Whorton v. Bockting
549 U.S. 406 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Dillon v. United States
560 U.S. 817 (Supreme Court, 2010)
Ochoa v. Sirmons
485 F.3d 538 (Tenth Circuit, 2007)
Gant v. United States
627 F.3d 677 (Seventh Circuit, 2010)
Neverson v. Bissonnette
261 F.3d 120 (First Circuit, 2001)
Vitrano v. United States
643 F.3d 229 (Seventh Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Morales
655 F.3d 608 (Seventh Circuit, 2011)
Andrew Theodorou v. United States
887 F.2d 1336 (Seventh Circuit, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
51 F. Supp. 3d 745, 2014 WL 2927309, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88316, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hernandez-v-united-states-ilnd-2014.