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SMITH v. BLANCKENSEE (2021)

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.2021-06-24No. No. 20-15551

Summary

Holding. The district court's judgment dismissing Smith's § 2241 habeas petition was affirmed.

Todd Smith appealed the dismissal of his federal habeas petition filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Smith's appointed counsel filed a brief indicating no meritorious grounds for relief and sought to withdraw, while Smith submitted his own supplemental arguments. The appellate court conducted an independent review of the record and concluded that the district court lacked authority to consider Smith's petition because he failed to satisfy the stringent requirements for invoking the 'escape hatch' exception under § 2255(e), which requires proof of prior conviction with a mistaken predicate offense determination, a subsequent retroactive Supreme Court decision clarifying the law, a mandatory sentence under a mandatory sentencing scheme, and that the issue arose after the opportunity to raise it in a direct § 2255 motion had expired.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether district court had jurisdiction over § 2241 habeas petition
  • Whether 'escape hatch' exception under § 2255(e) applied
  • Whether Miranda violation and ineffective assistance of counsel claims warranted certificate of appealability

Procedural posture

Smith appealed from a district court's dismissal of his § 2241 habeas corpus petition, with counsel seeking withdrawal under Anders and Smith filing a pro se supplemental brief.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Todd C. Smith appeals from the district courts judgment dismissing his 28 U.S.C. § 2241 habeas petition. Pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967), Smiths counsel has filed a brief stating that there are no grounds for relief, along with a motion to withdraw as counsel of record. Smith has filed a pro se supplemental brief. No answering brief has been filed.

Our independent review of the record pursuant to Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 80, 109 S.Ct. 346, 102 L.Ed.2d 300 (1988), discloses that the certified issue provides no basis for appellate relief. See Graves v. McEwen, 731 F.3d 876, 880-81 (9th Cir. 2013). Contrary to Smiths pro se contention, the district court lacked jurisdiction to consider his § 2241 petition under the escape hatch in 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e). See Allen v. Ives, 950 F.3d 1184, 1188-90 (9th Cir. 2020) (discussing escape hatch criteria); see also Allen v. Ives, 976 F.3d 863, 869 (9th Cir. 2020) (W. Fletcher, J., concurring in denial for rehg en banc) (clarifying that that escape hatch is available only to petitioners who can show: “(1) they were convicted of prior offenses, at least one of which was mistakenly deemed to qualify as a predicate offense; (2) the mistake was later addressed by the Supreme Court in a retroactive decision clarifying the applicable law; (3) they received a mandatory sentence under a mandatory sentencing scheme; and (4) all of this came to light after the opportunity to raise it in a § 2255 motion had passed”).

We treat Smiths pro se arguments that his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), were violated and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel as a motion to expand the certificate of appealability. So treated, the motion is denied. See 9th Cir. R. 22-1(e); Hiivala v. Wood, 195 F.3d 1098, 1104-05 (9th Cir. 1999).

The motion to take judicial notice is granted.

Counsels motion to withdraw is GRANTED.

AFFIRMED.