Parsons v. United States

• Docket Number: 2:22-CV-00098-LPR-ERE
• Decision Date: 18 July 2022
• Parties: MICHAEL WAYNE PARSONS, Reg. #30237-047PETITIONER v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and STATE OF TENNESSEE[1]RESPONDENTS
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas

MICHAEL WAYNE PARSONS, Reg. #30237-047PETITIONER
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and STATE OF TENNESSEE^[1]RESPONDENTS

No. 2:22-CV-00098-LPR-ERE

United States District Court, E.D. Arkansas, Delta Division

July 18, 2022

RECOMMENDED DISPOSITION

The following Recommended Disposition (“Recommendation”) has been sent to United States District Judge Lee Rudofsky. You may file written objections to all or part of this Recommendation. If you do so, those objections must: (1) specifically explain the factual and/or legal basis for your objection; and (2) be received by the Clerk of this Court within fourteen (14) days of the entry of this Recommendation. The failure to timely file objections may result in waiver of the right to appeal questions of fact.

I. INTRODUCTION

Michael Wayne Parsons, a prisoner in the Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest City, Arkansas, has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Mr. Parsons challenges the validity of his conviction but fails to show

1

that his remedy under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 was inadequate or ineffective, as required to collaterally attack his federal conviction. The Court therefore recommends that the petition be denied without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction.

II. BACKGROUND

In 2009, a jury in the Circuit Court of Tipton County, Tennessee found Mr. Parsons guilty on two counts of aggravated assault, felony offenses. State v. Parsons, 437 S.W.3d 457, 462 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2011). In January 2017, while on pretrial release for new state charges for being a felon in possession of a firearm, Mr. Parsons absconded, and a warrant issued for his arrest. United States v. Parsons, 946 F.3d 1011, 1013 (8th Cir. 2020).

While fleeing, Mr. Parsons piloted a small plane, and he stopped at an airport in Nebraska to stay the night. Id. The next day, he was arrested at the airport, and a search of his aircraft uncovered a firearm and ammunition. Id. As a result, Mr. Parsons was charged in the United States District Court for Nebraska with being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Id.

Following the government's evidence, Mr. Parsons moved for a judgment of acquittal under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29. Id. The district court denied his motion, and on August 30, 2018, a jury found him guilty as charged. Id. The Nebraska District Court sentenced Mr. Parsons to 84 months in prison, consecutive to a sentence imposed by the Circuit Court of Tipton County, Tennessee. United States v. Parsons,

2

No. 4:17-cr-03038-JMG-CRZ (ECF No. 187) (D. Neb. December 13, 2018).

Mr. Parsons appealed the denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal, and on January 7, 2019, the Eighth Circuit affirmed. Parsons, 946 F.3d at 1013. On January 30, 2020, Mr. Parsons requested to file a petition for rehearing, pursuant to Rehaif v. United States, 139 S.Ct. 2191 (2019). The Eighth Circuit permitted the out-of-time petition but denied a rehearing on March 5, 2020. Parsons, No. 4:17-cr-03038-JMG-CRZ (ECF No. 209) (March 5, 2020).

Mr. Parsons did not petition the Supreme Court for writ of certiorari, nor did he file a motion to vacate, set aside, or correct, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255.

On April 20, 2022, Mr. Parsons filed the § 2241 petition now before the Court in the Western District of Tennessee, and that Court transferred the case to this District, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). Mr. Parsons challenges his § 922(g)(1) conviction by attacking the predicate felony conviction: his 2009 Tennessee conviction for aggravated assault.^[2] Mr. Parsons argues that Tennessee courts lacked

3

jurisdiction to try him because he is a “Cherokee/Metis man,” and Tennessee charged and convicted him on “his Cherokee land.” Doc. 1 at 3.

Mr. Parsons cites McGirt v. Oklahoma, 140 S.Ct. 2452 (2020), to support his argument. Under the federal Major Crimes Act (“MCA”), the states generally lack jurisdiction to try “Indians” for conduct committed in “Indian Country.” 18 U.S.C. § 1153(a)...