In re Watkins

810 F.3d 375, 2015 FED App. 0295P, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 21952, 2015 WL 9241176
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedDecember 17, 2015
DocketNo. 15-5038
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 810 F.3d 375 (In re Watkins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Watkins, 810 F.3d 375, 2015 FED App. 0295P, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 21952, 2015 WL 9241176 (6th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Windy Watkins, a federal prisoner serving a sentence of 185-months’ imprisonment for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, moves this Court for authorization to file a second or successive habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. In her supplemental brief, Watkins seeks to base her collateral attack on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Johnson v. United States, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), which held that the imposition of an increased sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act’s (“ACCA”) residual clause violates due process, as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, because the residual clause is so vague that it “denies fair notice to defendants and invites arbitrary enforcement by judges.”1 Id. at 2557. This Court may authorize the filing of a second or successive 2 § 2255 petition only if we determine that Watkins has made a prima facie showing that Johnson announced “a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to eases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable.” 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h)(2); see also In re Liddell, 722 F.3d 737, 738 (6th Cir.2013) (per curiam). For the following reasons, we find that Watkins has made such a showing and GRANT her authorization to file a second or successive § 2255 petition.

I.

In 2005, Watkins pleaded guilty to one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Under ACCA, any person who violates § 922(g)(1) and has three qualifying convictions is subject to a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence. See 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). Because Watkins had three prior convictions — for arson, felony escape, and voluntary manslaughter — the district court imposed a sentence of 185 months, which was at the lower end of the guidelines range, based on Watkins’ status as an armed career criminal. On direct appeal, this Court affirmed the district court’s judgment, and the Supreme Court denied Watkins’ petition for a writ of cer-tiorari. Watkins v. United States, 549 U.S. 1259, 127 S.Ct. 1389, 167 L.Ed.2d 172 (2007).

II.

In 2011, Watkins filed a motion to vacate, set aside, or correct her sentence [378]*378pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 on the grounds that her arson conviction did not qualify as a “violent felony” under ACCA. The district court denied the motion as untimely under § 2255’s one-year statute of limitations. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255(f).

In 2014, Watkins filed the instant motion before the district court, arguing that in light of Descamps, her felony escape conviction did not qualify as a predicate offense under ACCA. Noting that Watkins had previously filed an untimely § 2255 petition, the district court transferred the motion to this Court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631, for consideration as to whether authorization of a second or successive § 2255 petition was warranted. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h); 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3) (requiring that applicants seeking to file a second or successive § 2255 petition first obtain authorization from the appropriate court of appeals). Watkins’ motion was docketed in this Court on January 16, 2015. After the parties filed their respective briefs, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Johnson.

As the Johnson Court explained, under ACCA, a defendant who “has three or more earlier convictions for a ‘serious drug offense’ or a ‘violent felony,’ ” is subject to a “prison term [of] a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of life.” 135 S.Ct. at 2555 (citations omitted). ACCA defines the term “violent felony” as:

[A]ny crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year ... that—
(i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another;3 or
(ii) is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives,4 or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another [.]

18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B) (emphasis added). “The closing words of this definition, italicized above, have come to be known as [ACCA’s] residual clause.” Johnson, 135 S.Ct. at 2556. Relevant to this case, the Johnson Court concluded, after several years of attempting to clarify the scope of the residual clause, that the terms of the residual clause were so vague that they “denie[d] fair notice to defendants and invite[d] arbitrary enforcement by judges.” Id. at 2557; see also id. at 2560 (“Nine years’ experience trying to derive meaning from the residual clause convinces us that we have embarked upon a failed enterprise.”). Thus, in light of the widespread “confusion and uncertainty” generated by the vagueness of the provision’s terms, the Court held that “imposing an increased sentence under the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act violates the Constitution’s guarantee of due process.” Id. at 2562-63.

After Johnson was decided, Watkins filed a motion requesting a stay and seeking leave to file a supplemental brief addressing Johnson’s impact on her claim that her felony escape conviction no longer qualifies as a predicate offense under ACCA. We granted the motion. In its supplemental brief, the government asserts that under Johnson — which overruled previous Supreme Court decisions and held that ACCA’s residual clause is void for vagueness — Watkins has made a prima facie showing that she meets each of [379]*379§ 2255(h)(2)’s gatekeeping requirements.5 On this basis, the government asserts that Watkins’ motion for authorization to file a second or successive § 2255 petition should be granted.6

III.

A court of appeals may authorize a second or successive § 2255 petition where the applicant makes a prima facie showing that her proposed claim is based on “a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable.” 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h)(2); see also Liddell, 722 F.3d at 738. A prima facie showing, in this context, simply requires that the applicant make a showing of possible merit sufficient to “warrant a fuller exploration by the district court.”

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Bluebook (online)
810 F.3d 375, 2015 FED App. 0295P, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 21952, 2015 WL 9241176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-watkins-ca6-2015.