United States v. Mumpower
| Decision Date | 20 October 2016 |
| Docket Number | Case No.: 3:08cr22/LAC/EMT,Case No.: 3:13cv577/LAC/EMT |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. WARREN K. MUMPOWER |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida |
This matter came before the court on Defendant Warren K. Mumpower's "Motion by a Person in Federal Custody to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255" and memorandum in support thereof (ECF No. 1040). The Government responded in opposition (ECF No. 1085), and Defendant filed a reply (ECF No. 1116). The case was referred to the undersigned for the issuance of all preliminary orders and any recommendations to the district court regarding dispositive matters. See N.D. Fla. Loc. R. 72.2; see also 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) and Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b). After a careful review of the record and the arguments presented, it is the opinion of the undersigned that Defendant has not raised any issue requiring an evidentiary hearing and that the § 2255 motion should be denied. See Rules 8(a) and (b), Rules Governing Section 2255 Cases.
Defendant and thirteen others were charged in a forty-count superseding indictment with various charges related to the international distribution of child pornography via the internet (ECF No. 78; Defendant Mumpower charged in Counts 1, 2, 12, 22, 35, 40). After a six-day jury trial, Defendant was convicted of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise ("CEE"), in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g) (Count 1); conspiring to advertise, transport/ship, receive, and possess child pornography, and to obstruct an official proceeding, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1512(k), 2251(e), and 2252A(b) (Count 2); receiving and attempting to child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2) and 2 (Count 35); obstructing justice, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) (Count 40); advertising the exchange of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(d)(1) and (2) (Count 12); and knowingly transporting and shipping child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(1) and 2 (Count 22) (ECF Nos. 78, 480, 793). The court sentenced Defendant to a term of life imprisonment as to Count 1; 600 months as to Counts 2 and 12; 480 months as to Counts 22 and 35; and 240 months as to Count 40, with each count to run concurrently with the others (ECF No. 793 at 3). Defendant appealed, and the Eleventh Circuit vacated each Defendant's convictions for conspiracy and statutory obstruction of justice in Counts 2 and 40. United States v. McGarity, 669 F.3d 1218, 1229 (11th Cir. 2012). The opinion stated no fewer than five times that the evidence against the Defendants, which included their own confessions,1 was nothing short of "overwhelming." Id. at 1242, 1243, 1246, 1263. The Supreme Court denied certiorari (ECF No. 931), and on August 20, 2012, the district court entered a second amended judgment sentencing Defendant to a term of life imprisonment on Count 1, 600 months on Count 12, and 480 months as to Counts 22 and 35, to run concurrently (ECF No. 921). Defendant timely filed the instant motion to vacate, raising 79 claims for relief (ECF Nos. 1040).
As noted by the Government, the facts of this case are set forth in the superseding indictment, the transcripts of trial and sentencing, the Pre-Sentence Investigation Report ("PSR"), the second amended judgment and statement of reasons, and the Eleventh Circuit's opinion on appeal (ECF Nos. 78, 720-725, 812, 903, 921-922, 1194, 1207). Therefore, the undersigned will provide an abbreviated recitation of the facts here, and relay additional specific facts only as needed for resolution of claims raised in the instant motion.
As set forth in the Eleventh Circuit's opinion, in 2005 an informant notified Constable Brenden Power of the Queensland, Australia Police Service of theexistence of a computer ring of child pornography users that operated through internet newsgroups. The informant revealed which newsgroups the ring was using, the ring's encryption method, and the informant's nickname within the ring, which enabled Constable Power to infiltrate the ring. Constable Power began monitoring the ring and learned of the sophisticated nature of the ring, including controls on memberships and complicated methods of communicating and posting using encryption. Members uploaded scrambled and encrypted binary files in one newsgroup, then would place a message in another newsgroup advising that the upload was there with instructions. Other members could then download the encrypted message, decrypt and read it, and follow the instructions contained therein to locate and download the files containing child pornography. The group masked headings when posting files and messages and frequently changed nicknames as a further means of avoiding detection.
After realizing that the ring was operating internationally, Constable Power traveled to the United States in 2006 where he continued his investigation in conjunction with the FBI's Innocent Images Unit. The joint investigation continued for another year, during which time law enforcement was able to identify 22 members of the child pornography ring, 14 of whom were people of special interest. Between August 31, 2006 and December 15, 2007, law enforcement detected the upload of over 400,000 images and more than 1,000 videos by ring members. Not all of the images and videos portrayed child pornography, but many of them depicted the sexual abuse of minors in graphic and grotesque detail.
On February 28, 2008, law enforcement agents simultaneously executed search warrants at the residents of the Defendants in this case. All Defendants except for one confessed his involvement with child pornography and with the child pornography ring in question. Encryption keys of the type provided to Constable Power to access the pertinent newsgroup postings were found in the possession of all but one of the Defendants, including Defendant Mumpower, and after being taken into custody and housed together six of the Defendants, including Defendant Mumpower admitted to the others his membership in the child pornography ring. United States v. McGarity, 669 F.3d 1218, 1229-31 (11th Cir. 2012).
Collateral review is not a substitute for direct appeal, and therefore the grounds for collateral attack on final judgments pursuant to § 2255 are extremely limited. A prisoner is entitled to relief under section 2255 if the court imposed a sentence that (1) violated the Constitution or laws of the United States, (2) exceeded its jurisdiction, (3) exceeded the maximum authorized by law, or (4) is otherwise subject to collateral attack. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255(a); McKay v. United States, 657 F.3d 1190, 1194 n.8 (11th Cir. 2011). "Relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 'is reserved for transgressions of constitutional rights and for that narrow compass of other injury that could not have been raised in direct appeal and would, if condoned, result in a complete miscarriage of justice.'" Lynn v. United States, 365 F.3d 1225, 1232 (11th Cir. 2004) (citations omitted). The "fundamental miscarriage of justice" exception recognized in Murray v. Carrier, 477 U.S. 478, 496 (1986), provides that it must be shown that the alleged constitutional violation "has probably resulted in the conviction of one who is actually innocent . . . ."
The law is well established that a district court need not reconsider issues raised in a section 2255 motion which have been resolved on direct appeal. Rozier v. United States, 701 F.3d 681, 684 (11th Cir. 2012); United States v. Nyhuis, 211 F.3d 1340, 1343 (11th Cir. 2000); Mills v. United States, 36 F.3d 1052, 1056 (11th Cir. 1994). Once a matter has been decided adversely to a defendant on direct appeal, it cannot be re-litigated in a collateral attack under section 2255. Nyhuis, 211 F.3d at 1343 (quotation omitted). Broad discretion is afforded to a court's determination of whether a particular claim has been previously raised. Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. 1, 16 (1963) ().
Because a motion to vacate under section 2255 is not a substitute for direct appeal, issues which could have been raised on direct appeal are generally not actionable in a section 2255 motion and will be considered procedurally barred. Lynn, 365 F.3d at 1234-35; Bousley v. United States, 523 U.S. 614, 621 (1998); McKay v. United States, 657 F.3d 1190, 1195 (11th Cir. 2011). An issue is "'available' on direct appeal when its merits can be reviewed without further factual development." Lynn, 365 F.3d at 1232 n.14 (quoting Mills, 36 F.3d at 1055). Absent a showing that the ground of error was unavailable on direct appeal, a court may not consider the ground in a section 2255 motion unless the defendant establishes (1) cause for not raising the ground on direct appeal, and (2) actual prejudice resulting from the alleged error, that is, alternatively, that he is "actually innocent." Lynn, 365 F.3d at 1234; Bousley, 523 U.S. at 622 (citations omitted). To show cause for procedural default, a defendant must show that "some objective factor external to the defense prevented [him] or his counsel from raising his claims on direct appeal and that this factor cannot be fairly attributable to [defendant's] own conduct." Lynn, 365 F.3d at 1235. A meritorious claim of ineffective assistance of counsel can constitute cause. See Nyhuis, 211 F.3d at 1344.
An evidentiary hearing is unnecessary when "the motion and files and records conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief." See 28 U.S.C. § 2255(b); Rosin v. United States, 786 F.3d 873, 877 (11th Cir. 2015); Gordon v. United States, 518 F.3d 1291, 1301 (11th Cir. 2008). Not every claim of ineffective assistance of counsel warrants an...
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