Mattern v. Secretary for the Department of Corrections

494 F.3d 1282, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 18679, 2007 WL 2240283
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 7, 2007
Docket05-15161
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 494 F.3d 1282 (Mattern v. Secretary for the Department of Corrections) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mattern v. Secretary for the Department of Corrections, 494 F.3d 1282, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 18679, 2007 WL 2240283 (11th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Floyd Blair Mattern, a federal prisoner, appeals the district court’s dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition as moot. For the reasons that follow, we conclude the petition was not moot, and we vacate and remand with instructions for the district court to hold an evidentiary hearing on whether the petition was timely filed.

*1284 I. Background

Mattern was charged in state court with aggravated battery on a person over the age of 65. Pursuant to a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years probation. The parties would later dispute whether Mattern was convicted of aggravated battery on a person over the age of 65 or simple battery of a person over the age of 65. 1 His conviction became final on October 8, 1998. Mattern later violated his probation and, during proceedings to revoke Mattern’s probation, the court calculated the sentence based on aggravated battery and imposed a term of imprisonment on June 15, 1999. On August 12, 1999, Mattern filed a motion to reduce sentence challenging the calculation used to enhance his sentence, which the state court denied in October 1999. Thereafter, on March 9, 2000, Mattern filed a state post-conviction motion again challenging the calculations used to enhance his sentence. The state court denied the motion in October 2000, determining that Mattern had, in fact, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery on a person over the age of 65. Mattern’s appeal was denied, and the mandate issued April 2, 2001.

On April 26, 2001, 2 Mattern filed a federal habeas petition pro se, asserting that, at his probation revocation hearing, the sentencing court erred when it sentenced him based on a sentencing score sheet that incorrectly listed his prior conviction as aggravated battery, rather than simple battery, and that this misstatement on the score sheet resulted in an enhanced sentence. While the petition was pending, Mattern completed his sentence and was released, but shortly thereafter was rearrested on new charges of aggravated battery. The state moved to dismiss the § 2254 petition as moot. Mattern, through counsel, opposed the motion, asserting that the conviction for aggravated battery would have collateral consequences for him because he had been arrested again and charged with a new felony offense in state court.

The magistrate judge concluded that Mattern had been convicted only of simple battery and that his claims were meritorious. 3 Nevertheless, the magistrate judge recommended that the petition be dismissed because Mattern’s claims were time barred (if based on the original conviction), or moot (if based on the sentence imposed for the probation violation). The magistrate judge noted that Mattern, through due diligence, should have known prior to his probation revocation that his sentencing score sheet listed his earlier conviction as aggravated battery. Over Mattern’s objections, the district court dismissed the petition as moot because Mattern was not suffering collateral consequences and, even if he was, those consequences stemmed from his original conviction and not his sentence on the probation revocation. 4 Mattern *1285 requested a certificate of appealability, which this court granted on the following issue: 5

Whether the district court erred in holding Mattern’s habeas petition was moot because both his original conviction for battery on a person over age 65 and his subsequent probation violation had fully expired. See Maleng v. Cook, 490 U.S. 488, 109 S.Ct. 1923, 104 L.Ed.2d 540 (1989); but cf., Spencer v. Kemna, 523 U.S. 1, 7, 118 S.Ct. 978, 983, 140 L.Ed.2d 43 (1998).

II. Mattern’s Appeal 6

The issue of whether a case is moot is a question of law that we review de novo. Troiano v. Supervisor of Elections in Palm Beach County, Fla., 382 F.3d 1276, 1282 (11th Cir.2004). The state bears the burden of establishing that the claim is moot. Minor v. Dugger, 864 F.2d 124, 125 (11th Cir.1989).

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, “a district court shall entertain an application for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court only on the ground that he is in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a) (emphasis added). Because Mattern was in custody at the time he filed his § 2254 petition, he satisfies the requirements of § 2254(a). Maleng v. Cook, 490 U.S. 488, 490-91, 109 S.Ct. 1923, 1925, 104 L.Ed.2d 540 (1989).

Nevertheless, a habeas petitioner who has been released from imprisonment subsequent to his filing a § 2254 petition must establish that his petition still presents a case or controversy under Article Ill, § 2, of the United States Constitution, and therefore is not moot. See Spencer v. Kemna, 523 U.S. 1, 7, 118 S.Ct. 978, 983, 140 L.Ed.2d 43 (1998). In other words, once a habeas petitioner has been released from imprisonment, the petitioner must establish that “some ‘collateral consequence’ of the conviction” exists. Id. The Supreme Court has determined that wrongful convictions can have continuing collateral consequences. Id. at 8, 118 S.Ct. 978. In Spencer, the Supreme Court considered a habeas petitioner’s challenge to the revocation of his parole status, and not his underlying conviction. The Court did not presume that collateral consequences resulted from the petitioner’s parole revocation, but analyzed whether the petitioner had demonstrated such consequences. Id. at 14, 118 S.Ct. 978. The Supreme Court rejected the petitioner’s argument, that his parole revocation was a collateral consequence to the extent that it could be used to enhance any future sentence, on the basis that such a consequence was contingent on the petitioner’s future violation of the law and being convicted. See Spencer, 523 U.S. at 15, 118 S.Ct. 978.

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Bluebook (online)
494 F.3d 1282, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 18679, 2007 WL 2240283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mattern-v-secretary-for-the-department-of-corrections-ca11-2007.