Murr v. Thoms

62 F. App'x 572
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMarch 19, 2003
DocketNo. 01-6592
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 62 F. App'x 572 (Murr v. Thoms) 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
Murr v. Thoms, 62 F. App'x 572 (6th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Robert Murr, a federal inmate currently incarcerated at the Federal [573]*573Medical Center at Lexington, Kentucky, appeals the district court’s order denying his application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Petitioner argues he was improperly sentenced for a continuing criminal enterprise conviction, 21 U.S.C. § 848, and that a motion pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 would be inadequate and ineffective to raise this claim. For the following reasons, we will affirm the order of the district court.

BACKGROUND

A jury convicted Robert Murr of one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute sixty-two kilograms of cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 846, ten counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and aiding and abetting the possession and distribution of cocaine. 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 2, and one count of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise (“CCE”). 21 U.S.C. § 848. The conspiracy conviction was subsequently vacated as a lesser-included charge of the CCE conviction and one of the substantive counts was subsequently set aside as duplicitous. After a five-day sentencing hearing, the court imposed a 260-month sentence on all counts to run concurrently. In sentencing the petitioner, the court relied upon the post-November 1988 version of the CCE statute, which contained a twenty-year minimum mandatory sentence. When petitioner appealed his conviction, but not his sentence, the government filed a cross-appeal on the issue of sentencing. The court affirmed the convictions but reversed petitioner’s sentence for error and remanded the case for resentencing. During the resentencing, petitioner argued he should receive a 240-month sentence instead of the 260-month sentence originally imposed. The court used the twenty-year minimum mandatory contained in the post-November 1988 CCE statute and agreed to re-sentence petitioner to 240-months. At no time did petitioner object to the sentencing court’s use of the post-November 1988 version of 21 U.S.C. § 848.

Petitioner then filed a Motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. As part of that motion, petitioner argued that the trial court had failed properly to instruct the jury that they needed to agree unanimously on the three underlying drug offenses that formed the basis for the continuing series of violations under the CCE statute. See Richardson v. United States, 526 U.S. 818, 119 S.Ct. 1707, 143 L.Ed.2d 985 (1999). The trial court denied the motion and this court affirmed, holding that the failure to instruct the jury was harmless error because the jury had unanimously found petitioner guilty of ten substantive drug offenses. Murr v. United States, 200 F.3d 895, 906 (6th Cir.2000). Again, during the § 2255 proceedings, petitioner failed to raise the sentencing court’s use of the post-November 1988 version of the CCE statute. Petitioner has not requested permission from this court to file a second or successive § 2255 motion.

Petitioner next filed an Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. In his application, petitioner argues that the first five substantive offenses for which he was convicted occurred prior to the November 1988 revision of 21 U.S.C. § 848 and that the remaining five offenses occurred after the revision. According to petitioner’s argument, because the trial court failed to instruct the jury properly, it is impossible to know which three offenses the jury relied upon when it found petitioner guilty of the CCE. Since the jury could have used three pre-November 1988 offenses when it found petitioner guilty of the CCE, and the preNovember 1988 version of the CCE statute contained a ten-year minimum manda[574]*574tory sentence (rather than the twenty-year minimum mandatory of the current version), petitioner argues he should be re-sentenced according to the prior version of 21 U.S.C. § 848. Under the sentencing guidelines, a ten year minimum mandatory would mean a sentencing range of 121 to 151 months. Petitioner also argues that a motion pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 would be inadequate and ineffective to raise this claim. The district court dismissed the action, sua sponte, and petitioner’s timely appeal followed.

ANALYSIS

This court reviews de novo a district court’s legal conclusion in a habeas corpus decision. United States v. Peterman, 249 F.3d 458, 461 (6th Cir.2001). Before reaching the merits of petitioner’s appeal, we must determine if this court has jurisdiction to hear this case. The fifth paragraph of 28 U.S.C. § 2255, the “savings clause.” provides that:

An application for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of a prisoner who is authorized to apply for relief by motion pursuant to this section, shall not be entertained if it appears that the applicant has failed to apply for relief, by motion, to the court which sentenced him, or that such court has denied him relief, unless it also appears that the remedy by motion is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention.

See Charles v. Chandler, 180 F.3d 753, 755 (6th Cir.1999). A federal prisoner may file a habeas petition to challenge the imposition of his sentence only if the remedy afforded under § 2255 is inadequate or ineffective. Id. at 756. “[T]he § 2255 remedy is not considered inadequate or ineffective simply because § 2255 relief has already been denied, or because the petitioner is proeedurally barred from pursuing relief under § 2255, or because the petitioner has been denied permission to file a second or successive motion to vacate. It is the petitioner’s burden to establish that his remedy under § 2255 is inadequate or ineffective.” Id. (internal citations omitted).

Petitioner admits that the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) precludes him from filing a second or successive motion for post-conviction relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C.

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Related

Murr v. Thoms, Warden
540 U.S. 824 (Supreme Court, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
62 F. App'x 572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murr-v-thoms-ca6-2003.