Orville Cephas v. John Nash, Warden, Ray Brook Federal Correctional Institution

328 F.3d 98, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 8177, 2003 WL 1989610
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedApril 30, 2003
DocketDocket 02-2152
StatusPublished
Cited by410 cases

This text of 328 F.3d 98 (Orville Cephas v. John Nash, Warden, Ray Brook Federal Correctional Institution) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Orville Cephas v. John Nash, Warden, Ray Brook Federal Correctional Institution, 328 F.3d 98, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 8177, 2003 WL 1989610 (2d Cir. 2003).

Opinion

RAGGI, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner-Appellant Orville Cephas, who is presently incarcerated for violations of federal narcotics and firearms laws, appeals pro se from a judgment of the District Court for the Northern District of New York (Lawrence E. Kahn, Judge), dismissing his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. In that petition, Cephas argued that (1) in light of the Supreme Court decisions in Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. 137, 116 S.Ct. 501, 133 L.Ed.2d 472 (1995), and Muscarello v. United States, 524 U.S. 125, 118 S.Ct. 1911, 141 L.Ed.2d 111 (1998), he was actually innocent of carrying a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c); and (2) in light of Richardson v. United States, 526 U.S. 813, 119 S.Ct. 1707, 143 L.Ed.2d 985 (1999), he was actually innocent of participating in a continuing criminal enterprise (“CCE”) in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(a). The district court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to hear Cephas’s § 2241 challenge because petitioner had failed to demonstrate that 28 U.S.C. § 2255 was inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his conviction. See Triestman v. United States, 124 F.3d 361, 377 (2d Cir.1997). We agree with the district court that Cephas cannot invoke § 2241 jurisdiction to claim actual innocence with respect to his § 924(c) conviction because he has already unsuccessfully raised such a claim in a § 2255 motion, and Muscarello v. United States provides no new support for his argument. As for Cephas’s Richardson-based challenge to his § 848(a) conviction, which the district court did not specifically address, we conclude that Cephas’s inability to pursue this claim in a § 2255 motion does not give rise to § 2241 jurisdiction where it is plain on the existing record that Cephas cannot demonstrate actual innocence. See Adirondack Transit Lines, Inc. v. United Transp. Union, Local 1582, 305 F.3d 82, 88 (2d Cir.2002) (observing that appellate court may affirm on any basis supported by the record). Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I. Background

A. Cephas’s 1990 Conviction for Narcotics Trafficking and Firearms Possession

On July 28, 1988, a federal grand jury sitting in the Northern District of New York charged Orville Cephas, together with eleven other persons, in a thirty-one count superseding indictment with violations of federal narcotics and firearms laws in connection with a drug network operat *101 ing out of Saratoga Springs, New York. In 1990, following a jury trial, Cephas was convicted of (1) participating in a CCE, see 21 U.S.C. § 848(a); (2) four substantive counts of drug distribution, see 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1); 1 and (3) ten counts of using or carrying a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, see 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). For these crimes, Cephas was sentenced to a total of 271-months’ incarceration. 2 On direct appeal, this court affirmed the conviction. See United States v. Cephas, 937 F.2d 816 (2d Cir.1991).

B. Section 2255 Motion

Five years later, on November 5, 1996, Cephas and various of his co-defendants, through counsel, moved for collateral relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2265, asserting, inter alia, that their convictions on multiple firearms counts, all relating to a single drug trafficking offense, were at odds with this court’s decision in United States v. Lindsay, 985 F.2d 666, 672-76 (2d Cir.1993), and that the instructions and evidence on each firearms count were inadequate in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. at 144-45, 116 S.Ct. 501, 133 L.Ed.2d 472 (1995) (requiring showing of active employment of a firearm to prove unlawful “use” under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)). In a detailed memorandum decision dated October 23, 1997, the district court granted so much of the § 2255 motion as relied on United States v. Lindsay and, in Cephas’s case, vacated nine of his ten firearms convictions, a ruling that did not alter his sentence. Nevertheless, it denied that part of the motion relying on Bailey v. United States, finding that any defect in the jury instruction on “use” of a firearm was harmless because both the instruction and the evidence were sufficient to satisfy the alternative “carry” prong of § 924(c). See United States v. Pimentel, 83 F.3d 55, 58-60 (2d Cir.1996). 3 In so ruling, the court specifically declined to consider a claim that the trial evidence was insufficient to establish that a firearm was carried “during and in relation to” a drug trafficking crime, because the relationship element of § 924(c) had not been affected by Bailey so as to excuse defendants’ failure to raise this argument on direct appeal.

Defendants thereafter moved in the district court for reconsideration as well as a *102 certificate of appealability, both of which were denied on February 3, 1998. Defendants were equally unsuccessful in moving in this court for a certificate of appealability or an order of remand in light of the Supreme Court’s intervening decision in Muscarello v. United States, 524 U.S. at 126 (holding that “carry” prong of § 924(c) was not limited to the carrying of weapons directly on one’s person but could include knowing possession and conveyance in a vehicle). See Cephas v. United States, Nos. 98-2112, 98-2113, 98-2114, 98-2115 (2d Cir. Oct. 22,1999).

C. Application to File a Second § 2255 Motion

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328 F.3d 98, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 8177, 2003 WL 1989610, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orville-cephas-v-john-nash-warden-ray-brook-federal-correctional-ca2-2003.