USA. v. Sanders
| Decision Date | 26 February 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-6281,00-6281 |
| Citation | 247 F.3d 139 |
| Parties | (4th Cir. 2001) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SEAN LAMAR SANDERS, a/k/a Sean Lamont Sanders, Defendant-Appellant. Argued: |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. W. Earl Britt, Senior District Judge.
(CR-97-149, CA-99-860-5-BR)
COUNSEL: ARGUED: Matthew C. Hicks, Student Counsel, Appellate Litigation Program, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Anne Margaret Hayes, Assistant United States Attorney, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF:Steven H. Goldblatt, Director, Adam N. Steinman, Supervising Attorney, Troy B. Klyber, Student Counsel, Appellate Litigation Program, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Janice McKenzie Cole, United States Attorney, Fenita M. Shepard, Assistant United States Attorney, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Before WILKINSON, Chief Judge, TRAXLER, Circuit Judge, and T. S. ELLIS, III, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, sitting by designation.
Affirmed by published opinion. Chief Judge Wilkinson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Traxler and Judge Ellis joined.
Sean L. Sanders filed this petition for collateral relief under 28 U.S.C. S 2255 (1994 & Supp. IV 1998). Sanders claimed that his conviction and sentence for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. SS 841 and 846 should be overturned on account of violations of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. The district court dismissed Sanders' motion as untimely under S 2255 because it was filed more than one year after Sanders' conviction became final. Because Sanders' resentencing under Fed. R. Crim. Pro. 35(b) did not renew the clock on S 2255's statute of limitations, because Sanders procedurally defaulted any remaining claims, and because the new rule of criminal procedure announced in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), does not apply retroactively on collateral review, we affirm the district court's dismissal of Sanders' habeas petition.
On September 23, 1997, Sean L. Sanders was named in a onecount criminal information. The information alleged that Sanders conspired to distribute cocaine and cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. SS 841 and 846. Sanders subsequently waived indictment and pleaded guilty to the criminal information. On January 13, 1998, Sanders was sentenced to 328 months imprisonment and a five-year term of supervised release. The district court also ordered Sanders to pay a $15,792.00 fine and specially assessed him $100. The court entered its judgment on January 15, 1998. Sanders did not appeal.
On December 15, 1998, in light of Sanders' substantial assistance in other prosecutions, the government moved for a reduction in Sanders' sentence pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. Pro. 35(b). On April 16, 1999, the district court granted the government's motion. The court reduced Sanders' term of imprisonment to 188 months and reduced his fine to $9,686.00.
On December 27, 1999, nearly twenty-four months after he had originally been sentenced, Sanders filed a petition for collateral relief under 28 U.S.C. S 2255. Sanders claimed that in light of Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227 (1999), his original sentence violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process because the district court did not apply the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard in determining the type and quantity of the drugs in question. In addition, Sanders claimed that his attorney was ineffective for failing to present this Fifth Amendment argument to the court.
On January 6, 2000, the district court dismissed Sanders' petition for relief. The court noted that the judgment of his conviction became final in January 1998, but that Sanders did not file his petition for collateral relief until December 1999. The court ruled that Sanders' petition was therefore untimely under S 2255's one-year statute of limitations. Sanders now appeals.
Prior to 1996, there was no time limitation on a federal prisoner's ability to collaterally attack his conviction in aS 2255 motion. See United States v. Torres, 211 F.3d 836, 838 (4th Cir. 2000). This changed in 1996 with Congress' enactment of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 ("AEDPA"). AEDPA amended 28 U.S.C. S 2255 to provide a oneyear limitations period for the filing of S 2255 motions. Section 2255's statute of limitations provides, in relevant part:
A 1-year period of limitation shall apply to a motion under this section. The limitation period shall run from the latest of -
(1) the date on which the judgment of conviction becomes final; . . . [or]
(3) the date on which the right asserted was initially recognized by the Supreme Court, if that right has been newly recognized by the Supreme Court and made retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review.
Sanders contends that his motion was timely under both subsections (1) and (3). Sanders first contends his habeas petition was timely under S 2255 subsection (1). Sanders concedes that if this court construes the date upon which his "judgment of conviction becomes final" to be January 15, 1998, then his motion is untimely. January 15, 1998, was the date on which the district court entered its judgment from which Sanders chose not to appeal. Sanders contends, however, that the one-year limitations period did not begin to run until the completion of his resentencing under Fed. R. Crim. Pro. 35(b). This occurred on April 16, 1999. Since Sanders filed his S 2255 motion on December 27, 1999, roughly eight months after he was resentenced, he claims that his motion therefore is timely.
We disagree. Congress did not explicitly state in the AEDPA when a "judgment of conviction becomes final" for purposes of S 2255 subsection (1). See Torres, 211 F.3d at 838. In Torres, however, this court held that "for purposes of S 2255, the conviction of a federal prisoner whose conviction is affirmed by this Court and who does not file a petition for certiorari becomes final on the date that this Court's mandate issues in his direct appeal." Torres , 211 F.3d at 837. Under the reasoning of Torres, Sanders' conviction became final on the date upon which he declined to pursue further direct appellate review. The district court entered Sanders' judgment of conviction on January 15, 1998. Since Sanders did not file a direct appeal, his conviction became final for purposes of S 2255 subsection (1) on that date.
Contrary to Sanders' assertions, Congress did not intend for Fed. R. Crim. Pro. 35(b) motions to prevent convictions from becoming final for S 2255 purposes. The plain language of 18 U.S.C. S 3582(b) establishes that a modification of a sentence does not affect the finality of a criminal judgment. Section 3582(b) states:
(b) Effect of finality of judgment. -Notwithstanding the fact that a sentence to imprisonment can subsequently be -
(1). modified pursuant to the provisions of subsection (c);
(2). corrected pursuant to the provisions of rule 35 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and section 3742; or
(3). appealed and modified, if outside the guideline range, pursuant to the provisions of section 3742;
a judgment of conviction that includes such a sentence constitutes a final judgment for all other purposes.
18 U.S.C. S 3582(b) (emphasis added).
As S 3582(b)(1) contemplates, Sanders' sentence was modified pursuant to S 3582(c)(1)(B). That section permits courts to "modify an imposed term of imprisonment to the extent otherwise expressly permitted by statute or by Rule 35 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure." 18 U.S.C. S 3582(c)(1)(B). The plain text of S 3582(b) clearly states that this later modification does not affect the date on which Sanders' judgment of conviction became final"for all other purposes." The conviction which the district court entered on January 15, 1998, included "a sentence to imprisonment." Therefore that judgment of conviction "constitutes a final judgment for all other purposes" under 18 U.S.C. S 3582(b), including the beginning of S 2255 subsection (1)'s limitations period.2
Both Sanders and the government emphasize at length various policy arguments to explain why this court should or should not construe subsection (1)'s limitations period to begin running only after a Rule 35(b) sentence modification is granted. Sanders argues that his interpretation of subsection (1) will streamline court proceedings by allowing defendants to present a single S 2255 motion, rather than one for claims stemming from their original sentences and another for claims stemming from their Rule 35(b) resentencings. Sanders also argues that his construction of subsection (1) will encourage more cooperation between defendants and the government by removing defendants from the uncomfortable position of having to litigate against the government in their S 2255 motions, while simultaneously assisting the government in order to obtain its support for a Rule 35(b) sentence reduction. Finally, Sanders claims that his interpretation will eliminate the burden on defendants of having to litigate their ineffective assistance of counsel claims under S 2255, while simultaneously being represented by that very counsel in their Rule 35(b) resentencings.
For its part, the Government contends that Sanders' construction would result in many stale S 2255 claims. It points out that although Rule 35(b) motions ordinarily must be filed within one year after the sentence is imposed, motions may be made at a later date, sometimes even years afterwards. See Fed. R. Crim. Pro. 35(b). The government also argues that the efficiency gains from Sanders' proposed...
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