Martin v. Perez

• Decision Date: 13 February 2003
• Docket Number: No. 01-5690.,01-5690.
• Citation: 319 F.3d 799
• Parties: John T. MARTIN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Edward PEREZ, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

319 F.3d 799

John T. MARTIN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Edward PEREZ, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 01-5690.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Submitted: January 30, 2003.

Decided and Filed: February 13, 2003.

John T. Martin (briefed), Ashland, KY, pro se.

Jane E. Graham, Assistant United States Attorney, Frances E. Catron (briefed), Assistant United States Attorney, Lexington, KY, for Appellee.

Before: MARTIN, Chief Circuit Judge; MERRITT and LAY, Circuit Judges.^*

OPINION

BOYCE F. MARTIN, JR., Chief Circuit Judge.

Pro se petitioner John T. Martin appeals the dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Without requiring the federal warden, Edward Perez, to file a response, the district court dismissed the Section 2241 petition as a successive petition brought after successive claims under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, which the circuit court for the sentencing court refused to allow. Martin argues that his Section 2241 petition was improperly dismissed. Because we find, as required by Congress, that Martin's process under Section 2255 was inadequate and ineffective, we REMAND this case to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

The Southern District of Indiana indicted Martin in May of 1996 for manufacturing and detonating a pipe bomb. Martin manufactured a bomb that was five and one half inches long and one and one half inches in diameter, and he detonated it at the back door of a private residence in Madison, Indiana. While Carol Horton owns the residence, it is occupied by her son, James Bowyer. Martin believed Bowyer was dating his ex-wife, and he wanted to frighten him.

After lighting the bomb's fuse and detonating it, Martin fled. He devised an alibi for the crime, and he had a friend destroy his materials. Martin also destroyed the shoes he wore during the crime and asked his co-workers to lie to investigators. Martin asked an eyewitness to the crime to lie, and he convinced a friend to lie to a federal grand jury about his knowledge of the bombing. Martin was indicted for obstruction of justice, constructing and possessing an unregistered firearm (the bomb), making and inducing false statements to federal agents, and violating the federal bombing statute.

In July of 1996, pursuant to a plea agreement with the United States, Martin pled guilty to the federal bombing charges, under 18 U.S.C. § 844(i), and the obstruction charges, under 18 U.S.C. § 1503. As part of his plea agreement, Martin admitted his guilt as to all four counts of the indictment. The plea agreement also included extensive stipulated facts as to Martin's guilt. On December 16, the court sentenced Martin to one hundred and eight months confinement, three years supervised release, and restitution to Horton and Bowyer.

Although he had pled guilty to the charges, Martin appealed his conviction. He argued that his conduct did not constitute a federal offense because there was not a sufficient nexus between his conduct and interstate commerce, relying on United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 115 S.Ct. 1624, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995). Martin said the stipulated facts in his case were insufficient evidence of his guilt under Section 844(i). The Seventh Circuit rejected Martin's appeal, stating the challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence was made unreviewable by Martin's guilty plea. The court found that the stipulated facts were intended to establish the nexus to interstate commerce as required by Section 844(i). Because Lopez was decided more than a year before Martin entered his plea, the necessity of establishing a nexus to interstate commerce was clear. United States v. Martin, 129 F.3d 120, 1997 WL 599642, at *2 (7th Cir.1997), redesignated as opinion, 147 F.3d 529 (7th Cir.1998).

Martin then began filing a series of motions with the convicting court. On February 1, 1999, Martin filed a motion to correct the judgment in the Indiana district court. The court ruled that this motion was properly construed as Martin's first motion for collateral relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Martin attacked his conviction on the obstruction of justice charge. He claimed he pled guilty to a crime he did not commit because of a variance between the stipulated facts and the indictment. He did not claim that his guilty plea was involuntary or unintelligent, nor did he raise any Lopez issue regarding the connection with interstate commerce. The convicting court, located in the Southern District of Indiana, denied the Section 2255 motion, finding 1) the obstruction argument was procedurally defaulted, 2) Martin waived all non-jurisdictional defects by his guilty plea, and 3) on the merits the Section 1503 obstruction of justice charge was justified by the stipulated facts.

On June 14, Martin filed a notice of appeal to the Seventh Circuit. The district court considered this motion a request for certificate of appealability under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). This motion was denied. On March 20, 2000, the Seventh Circuit reviewed the final order of the district court and the record of the Section 2255 request. The court found no substantial showing of a denial of a constitutional right and denied Martin's request for a certificate of appealability.

While this decision was pending, however, Martin filed a "motion to dismiss the indictment against him for lack of jurisdiction," requesting relief from his convictions. The Indiana district court construed this as a second motion under Section 2255. The district court denied the motion, because Martin had not received permission from the Seventh Circuit to file a second or successive petition. Martin then filed another motion, this time entitled "Administrative Notice," requesting relief from his convictions. The district court treated this as a third petition under Section 2255 and denied relief, again because Martin had no permission from the Seventh Circuit to file.

In June of 2000, Martin filed a petition to the Seventh Circuit, seeking permission to file a second or successive petition under Section 2255. He reasserted his Lopez argument, this time citing to a new decision in Jones v. United States, 529 U.S. 848, 120 S.Ct. 1904, 146 L.Ed.2d 902 (2000), in which the Supreme Court determined that a conviction under Section 844(i) for bombing an owner-occupied residence could not stand because there was insufficient connection between that dwelling and interstate commerce. The Seventh Circuit weighed these arguments and denied Martin leave to file a second or successive petition under Section 2255.

On July 31, 2000, Martin filed a "Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus" in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, the federal district court having jurisdiction over Martin's place of confinement. The district court in Kentucky construed the petition as a motion for relief from his conviction and sentence pursuant to Section 2255 and transferred the case back to the district court in Indiana. The latter court dismissed the motion for lack of jurisdiction, because Martin still lacked Seventh Circuit permission for a successive petition under Section 2255.

On February 15, 2001, Martin filed a "Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241" in the Eastern District of Kentucky. Without requiring the federal warden to file a response, the district court dismissed without prejudice the Section 2241 claim as a successive petition brought after successive claims under Section 2255. On May 24, Martin filed notice of appeal.

In reviewing the dismissal of a petition for writ of habeas corpus, we review the district court's legal conclusions de novo. Stapleton v. Wolfe, 288 F.3d 863, 866 (6th Cir.2002). We review factual findings for clear error. Bulls v. Jones, 274 F.3d 329, 333 (6th Cir.2001).

A petition for habeas corpus must be filed in the district court that has jurisdiction over a prisoner's place of confinement. Section 2241(a) states, "Writs of habeas corpus may be granted by the Supreme Court, any justice thereof, the district courts and any circuit judge within their respective jurisdictions. The order of a circuit judge shall be entered in the records of the district court of the district wherein the restraint complained of is had." As a result, habeas corpus proceedings may occur in a court of confinement that is different from the court of conviction.

In 1948, at the behest of the Judicial Conference, Congress amended Section 2255 to allow the court that imposed sentence, rather than the court of confinement, to hear a collateral attack on that sentence. The Supreme Court observed in United States v. Hayman, 342 U.S. 205, 219, 72 S.Ct. 263, 96 L.Ed. 232 (1952), that Congress amended Section 2255 "to meet practical difficulties that had arisen in administering the habeas corpus jurisdiction of the federal courts ... [T]he sole purpose was to minimize the difficulties encountered in habeas corpus hearings by affording the same rights in another and more convenient forum." See also Davis v. United States, 417 U.S. 333, 343, 94 S.Ct. 2298, 41 L.Ed.2d 109 (1974) (noting that "§ 2255 was intended to afford federal prisoners a remedy identical in scope to federal habeas corpus").

28 U.S.C. § 2255, "Federal custody; remedies on motion attacking sentence," states:

A prisoner in custody under sentence of a court established by Act of Congress claiming the right to be released upon the ground that the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States, or that the court was without jurisdiction to impose such sentence, or that the sentence was in excess of the maximum authorized by law, or is otherwise subject to collateral attack, may move the court which imposed the sentence to vacate, set aside or correct the sentence.... 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...