Tong Moua v. B. Trate

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: August 30, 2023
• Docket: 23-15160
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS AUG 30 2023 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

TONG MOUA, No. 23-15160

Petitioner-Appellant, D.C. No. 1:22-cv-00948-JLT-SKO

v. MEMORANDUM* B. M. TRATE,

Respondent-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California Jennifer L. Thurston, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted August 15, 2023**

Before: TASHIMA, S.R. THOMAS, and FORREST, Circuit Judges.

Federal prisoner Tong Moua appeals pro se from the district court’s

judgment dismissing his 28 U.S.C. § 2241 habeas petition. We have jurisdiction

under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo, see United States v. Lemoine, 546

F.3d 1042, 1046 (9th Cir. 2008), and we affirm.

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). Moua contends that the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) improperly set a higher

payment schedule for his participation in the Inmate Financial Responsibility

Program (“IFRP”) than what the district court ordered in his criminal judgment,

thereby contradicting “the spirit” of this court’s caselaw and the Mandatory

Victims Restitution Act (“MVRA”). The district court did not err in dismissing

Moua’s habeas petition. Where, as here, the sentencing court has properly set a

restitution payment schedule, neither this court’s caselaw nor the MVRA “places

any limits on the BOP’s operation of an independent program, such as the IFRP,

that encourages inmates voluntarily to make more generous restitution payments

than mandated in their respective judgments.” Lemoine, 546 F.3d at 1048. The

authority Moua cites does not compel a contrary conclusion. See Ward v. Chavez,

678 F.3d 1042, 1047 (9th Cir. 2012) (discussing Lemoine).

AFFIRMED.

2 23-15160