Filed: Feb. 11, 2019
Latest Update: Feb. 11, 2019
Summary: MEMORANDUM CATHERINE C. BLAKE , District Judge . On December 15, 2017, federal prison inmate Michael Branch filed his third motion to vacate sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255. (ECF No. 145). Branch filed an initial 2255 motion on January 11, 2010, (ECF No. 76), which was denied on the merits on February 24, 2012, (ECF No. 96). On June 24, 2016 he filed a second motion based on Johnson v. United States, 135 S.Ct. 2551 (2015). (ECF No. 140). The Fourth Circuit granted authorization for t
Summary: MEMORANDUM CATHERINE C. BLAKE , District Judge . On December 15, 2017, federal prison inmate Michael Branch filed his third motion to vacate sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255. (ECF No. 145). Branch filed an initial 2255 motion on January 11, 2010, (ECF No. 76), which was denied on the merits on February 24, 2012, (ECF No. 96). On June 24, 2016 he filed a second motion based on Johnson v. United States, 135 S.Ct. 2551 (2015). (ECF No. 140). The Fourth Circuit granted authorization for th..
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MEMORANDUM
CATHERINE C. BLAKE, District Judge.
On December 15, 2017, federal prison inmate Michael Branch filed his third motion to vacate sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. (ECF No. 145). Branch filed an initial § 2255 motion on January 11, 2010, (ECF No. 76), which was denied on the merits on February 24, 2012, (ECF No. 96). On June 24, 2016 he filed a second motion based on Johnson v. United States, 135 S.Ct. 2551 (2015). (ECF No. 140). The Fourth Circuit granted authorization for this second petition, but on April 24, 2017, the petition was voluntarily dismissed. (ECF No. 143). Branch's most recent motion to vacate, relying on Mathis v. United States, 136 S.Ct. 2243 (2016), is therefore "second or successive," and he must obtain authorization for filing from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which he has not done. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h).
Accordingly, this motion must be denied without prejudice. The Clerk is directed to send Branch a copy of the forms to be used in requesting authorization from the Court of Appeals.
A separate Order follows.
