Filed: Mar. 12, 2020
Latest Update: Mar. 12, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 19-6999 KEITH HAGER, Petitioner - Appellant, v. WARDEN, Respondent - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Roanoke. Glen E. Conrad, District Judge. (7:19-cv-00226-GEC-PMS) Submitted: March 10, 2020 Decided: March 12, 2020 Before NIEMEYER and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and SHEDD, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Keith Hager, Appellant Pro Se.
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 19-6999 KEITH HAGER, Petitioner - Appellant, v. WARDEN, Respondent - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Roanoke. Glen E. Conrad, District Judge. (7:19-cv-00226-GEC-PMS) Submitted: March 10, 2020 Decided: March 12, 2020 Before NIEMEYER and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and SHEDD, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Keith Hager, Appellant Pro Se. U..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 19-6999
KEITH HAGER,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
WARDEN,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at
Roanoke. Glen E. Conrad, District Judge. (7:19-cv-00226-GEC-PMS)
Submitted: March 10, 2020 Decided: March 12, 2020
Before NIEMEYER and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and SHEDD, Senior Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Keith Hager, Appellant Pro Se.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Keith Hager, a federal prisoner, appeals the district court’s order denying relief on
his 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (2018) petition in which he sought to challenge his conviction and
sentence by way of the savings clause in 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (2018). * We review de novo
the denial of § 2241 relief. Fontanez v. O’Brien,
807 F.3d 84, 86 (4th Cir. 2015). Pursuant
to § 2255(e), a prisoner may challenge his conviction and sentence in a traditional writ of
habeas corpus pursuant to § 2241 if a § 2255 motion would be inadequate or ineffective to
test the legality of his detention.
[Section] 2255 is inadequate and ineffective to test the legality of a
conviction when: (1) at the time of conviction, settled law of this circuit or
the Supreme Court established the legality of the conviction; (2) subsequent
to the prisoner’s direct appeal and first § 2255 motion, the substantive law
changed such that the conduct of which the prisoner was convicted is deemed
not to be criminal; and (3) the prisoner cannot satisfy the gatekeeping
provisions of § 2255 because the new rule is not one of constitutional law.
In re Jones,
226 F.3d 328, 333-34 (4th Cir. 2000).
[Section] 2255 is inadequate and ineffective to test the legality of a sentence
when: (1) at the time of sentencing, settled law of this circuit or the Supreme
Court established the legality of the sentence; (2) subsequent to the prisoner’s
direct appeal and first § 2255 motion, the aforementioned settled substantive
law changed and was deemed to apply retroactively on collateral review;
(3) the prisoner is unable to meet the gatekeeping provisions of § 2255(h)(2)
for second or successive motions; and (4) due to this retroactive change, the
sentence now presents an error sufficiently grave to be deemed a fundamental
defect.
United States v. Wheeler,
886 F.3d 415, 429 (4th Cir. 2018).
*
As the district court noted, although Hager attempted to frame his § 2241 petition
as contesting the execution of his sentence, his claims in fact challenged the validity of his
conviction and sentence.
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We have reviewed the record and find no reversible error. Accordingly, we affirm
for the reasons stated by the district court. Hager v. Warden, No. 7:19-cv-00226-GEC-
PMS (W.D. Va. June 21, 2019). We dispense with oral argument because the facts and
legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument
would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
3