United States v. Russell Prevatte

300 F.3d 792, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 15939, 2002 WL 1815860
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 8, 2002
Docket94-3360
StatusPublished
Cited by112 cases

This text of 300 F.3d 792 (United States v. Russell Prevatte) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Russell Prevatte, 300 F.3d 792, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 15939, 2002 WL 1815860 (7th Cir. 2002).

Opinion

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

Russell “Rusty” Prevatte brings this motion to recall mandate and seeks immediate release from incarceration. For the following reasons, we believe that this motion ought to be construed as a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 and transferred to the District of Colorado pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631.

I

BACKGROUND

The facts leading up to Mr. Prevatte’s conviction are reported in detail in two prior opinions, see United States v. Prevatte, 16 F.3d 767 (7th Cir.1994), and United States v. Prevatte, 66 F.3d 840 (7th Cir.1995). We therefore shall set forth only those facts that are pertinent to Mr. Prevatte’s current motion.

On December 23, 1991, Mr. Prevatte and some confederates detonated a pipe bomb in an alley in Hammond, Indiana. The bomb damaged the adjacent house and garage; specifically, it punctured a gas meter located on the home. It appears, but is not clear from the record, that the bomb also damaged a pole owned or maintained by the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, the provider of natural gas to the adjacent house. The shrapnel from the explosion caused the death of Emily Antkowicz who was in her yard next to the alley when the bomb exploded.

Mr. Prevatte and his confederates were apprehended several months later. Mr. *795 Prevatte was charged with “maliciously damaging] or destroying] ... by means of fire or an explosive, any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property used in interstate or foreign commerce or in any activity affecting interstate or foreign commerce .... ” 18 U.S.C. § 844(i). Specifically, in Count II of a twenty-four count indictment, the grand jury charged that Mr. Prevatte “did maliciously damage and destroy, or attempt to damage and destroy, by means of an explosive, to wit: a pipe bomb, a building or other real and personal property located at 1425 Stanton, Hammond, Indiana which was used in or affected interstate commerce, which resulted in the death of Emily Antkowicz; [a]ll in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 844(i) and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2.” R.l at 7.

At trial, the Government established the interstate link by submitting evidence that the bombing not only had damaged a gas meter at 1425 Stanton, but also that the damage had caused a leak of gas that had traveled through interstate pipelines. See Prevatte, 16 F.3d at 771 n. 3 (citing Tr. VI at 813 and Tr. VII at 1228). The jury returned a verdict against Mr. Prevatte on Count II of the indictment, and the district court sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Mr. Prevatte appealed his conviction and his sentence. However, he did not raise lack of an interstate nexus as a basis for error. Nevertheless, this court sua sponte raised and resolved the issue; it stated:

No claim is made on appeal that this bombing was without the interstate commerce nexus required under 18 U.S.C. § 844(i). However, in United States v. Stillwell, 900 F.2d 1104, 1110 n. 2 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 838, 111 S.Ct. 111, 112 L.Ed.2d 81 (1990), this court held that the adequacy of the interstate commerce nexus was jurisdictional. This court also held in Stillwell that the bombing of a private home supplied by natural gas from outside the state had a sufficient nexus to interstate commerce under § 844(i). Id. at 1107 (stating that “Congress intended § 844(i) to reach a private residence which is supplied with interstate natural gas”). We are constrained to follow Still-ivell as the law of this circuit. There was evidence of record that the bombings had caused damage to gas meters and had caused leaks of gas that had traveled through interstate pipelines.

Id. (parallel and record citations omitted). Mr. Prevatte’s conviction was affirmed, but this court remanded for resentencing. See United States v. Prevatte, 16 F.3d 767 (7th Cir.1994). After a subsequent appeal and remand, see United States v. Prevatte, 66 F.3d 840 (7th Cir.1995), Mr. Prevatte eventually was sentenced to 44 years’ imprisonment.

In 1997, Mr. Prevatte sought post-conviction relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Specifically, Mr. Prevatte argued that the Government had withheld favorable evidence from him in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and had violated his due process rights by pressuring his brother to provide false testimony against him. The district court denied the motion, and Mr. Prevatte did not appeal.

In November 1999, while incarcerated at a federal detention center in California, Mr. Prevatte filed a motion for habeas relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. In his motion, Mr. Prevatte challenged his conviction on the basis that the Government had not established a sufficient interstate nexus. The United States District Court for the Central District of California, however, dismissed Mr. Prevatte’s motion for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court noted that Mr. Prevatte did not challenge the “manner, location or conditions[ ] *796 of the execution of a sentence,” but instead contested the legality of his conviction and sentence; consequently, his motion must be brought with the sentencing court under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Motion to Recall Mandate, Ex.4 at 2-3. The court further quoted § 2255 for the proposition that a petitioner may not seek relief under § 2241 “ ‘if it appears 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.’ ” Id. at 3 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2255). According to that court, “[t]he petitioner has not shown that a remedy pursuant to § 2255 is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention.

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Bluebook (online)
300 F.3d 792, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 15939, 2002 WL 1815860, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-russell-prevatte-ca7-2002.