Michael Spataro v. Warden Fort Dix FCI

684 F. App'x 117
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedApril 4, 2017
Docket16-3710
StatusUnpublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 684 F. App'x 117 (Michael Spataro v. Warden Fort Dix FCI) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Michael Spataro v. Warden Fort Dix FCI, 684 F. App'x 117 (3d Cir. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION *

PER CURIAM

Michael Spataro appeals from an order of the District Court dismissing his petition for writ of habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2241, for lack of jurisdiction. For the reasons that follow, we will summarily affirm.

Spataro was charged in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York with participating in a conspiracy to murder Joseph Campanella, an alleged soldier in the Colombo crime family. The evidence at trial consisted of witness testimony, telephone records, audio recordings, and photographs, showing that, on July 16, 2001, Campanella was shot by Vincent DeMartino and that Spa-taro had participated in the planning of that unsuccessful attempt to murder Campanella. Following a jury trial, Spataro was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(5), assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(3), and using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii). The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the criminal judgment, but vacated and remanded for resentencing, see United States v. Persico, 293 Fed.Appx. 24, 27 (2d Cir. 2008). The sentencing court resen-tenced Spataro on October 15, 2009, to 120 months’ imprisonment on the third count, to run consecutively to the 168- and 120-month concurrent sentences previously imposed on Counts 1 and 2, respectively, for a total sentence of 288 months.

Spataro filed a motion to vacate sentence, 28 U.S.C. § 2255, in the sentencing court, arguing that his trial counsel made numerous errors that amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel. Specifically, he asserted that counsel failed to adequately investigate and present a viable alibi defense, failed to effectively challenge the Government’s primary witness, and failed to retain a reliable expert witness regarding certain telephone records. On February 19, 2013, the § 2255 motion was denied on the merits, see Spataro v. United States, 2013 WL 618426 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 19, 2013).

At issue in this appeal, on March 9, 2015,. Spataro filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2241, in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, where he is currently confined. Spataro alleged that he is actually innocent of aiding and abetting a *119 § 924(c) offense, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Rosemond v. United States, — U.S. -, 134 S.Ct. 1240, 188 L.Ed.2d 248 (2014); and, in the alternative, he argued that he may proceed under § 2241 because Rosemond is in direct conflict with the Pinkerton instruction given at his trial, see Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 646-48, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946) (permitting conviction of defendant for acts by a coconspirator that were “done in furtherance of the conspiracy” and that could have been “reasonably foreseen as a necessary or natural consequence” of the conspiracy). Specifically, Spataro argued that he did not know that Martino possessed a gun until moments before it was used to wound Campanella. Spataro contends that the trial court’s aiding and abetting instructions were erroneous because they did not require the jury to find that he knew in advance that a gun would be involved in the crime, as required by Rosemond.

The Government moved to dismiss the § 2241 petition for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that its burden of proof at Spataro’s trial actually was more stringent than Rosemond’s standard because, in the Second Circuit prior to Rosemond, a defendant could only be convicted of aiding and abetting a § 924(c) offense if he performed some act that directly facilitated or encouraged the use or carrying of a firearm. Citing a not precedential summary order, the Government argued that the Second Circuit has since noted that Rosemond effectively lightened the standard for proving aiding and abetting in that circuit, see United States v. Rivera, 571 Fed.Appx. 55, 59 n.5 (2d Cir. 2014) (holding of Rosemond “expanded aiding and abetting liability under Section 924(c) as previously recognized by this Court”). With respect to Spataro’s argument that the breadth of the Pinkerton theory of liability is incompatible with Rosemond, the Government argued that “the same discordance” identified by Spa-taro between the Pinkerton and “aiding and abetting” standards of proof existed at the time of his conviction under the law of aiding and abetting law in the Second Circuit, and thus he could have made that argument on direct appeal or in his § 2255 motion.

Counsel then entered an appearance on behalf of Spataro and submitted a response in opposition to dismissal, arguing that the Rosemond claim had merit because the sentencing court did not charge the jury that the Spataro must have had advance knowledge that a firearm would be used, and that the court’s charge that a defendant must have performed some act that directly facilitated or encouraged the perpetrator in the use or carrying of a firearm was not tantamount to a charge that a defendant must have advance knowledge that a firearm would be used.

In an order entered on July 21, 2016, the District Court granted the Government’s motion and dismissed the § 2241 petition for lack of jurisdiction. The District Court agreed with the Government that Rose-mond effectively lightened the standard for proving aiding and abetting a § 924(c) offense in the Second Circuit. The Court also held that Spataro had an earlier opportunity to seek judicial review of his claim that the Pinkerton theory of liability is incompatible with the Second Circuit standard for proving aiding and abetting a § 924(c) offense, and, that, in any event, the holdings in Rosemond and Pinkerton address two distinct and separate theories of vicarious liability.

Spataro appeals. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. 1 The Government *120 has moved to summarily affirm the order of the District Court, pursuant to Third Cir. LAE 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6. Spataro submitted a brief and a response in opposition to the motion for summary affirmance, which we have considered.

We will summarily affirm the order of the District Court because no substantial question is presented by this appeal, Third Circuit LAR 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6. The District Court properly dismissed Spataro’s § 2241 petition for lack of jurisdiction because a motion filed under § 2255 in the sentencing court is the presumptive means for a federal prisoner to challenge the validity of his conviction or sentence. See Okereke v.

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Bluebook (online)
684 F. App'x 117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/michael-spataro-v-warden-fort-dix-fci-ca3-2017.