Filed: Nov. 12, 2013
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: Case: 13-30172 Document: 00512438547 Page: 1 Date Filed: 11/12/2013 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED November 12, 2013 No. 13-30172 Summary Calendar Lyle W. Cayce Clerk LEONARD SAPP, Petitioner-Appellant v. MARIA MEDINA; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondents-Appellees Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana USDC No. 1:12-CV-1824 Before DAVIS, SOUTHWICK, and HIGGINSON, Circuit
Summary: Case: 13-30172 Document: 00512438547 Page: 1 Date Filed: 11/12/2013 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED November 12, 2013 No. 13-30172 Summary Calendar Lyle W. Cayce Clerk LEONARD SAPP, Petitioner-Appellant v. MARIA MEDINA; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondents-Appellees Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana USDC No. 1:12-CV-1824 Before DAVIS, SOUTHWICK, and HIGGINSON, Circuit J..
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Case: 13-30172 Document: 00512438547 Page: 1 Date Filed: 11/12/2013
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
November 12, 2013
No. 13-30172
Summary Calendar Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
LEONARD SAPP,
Petitioner-Appellant
v.
MARIA MEDINA; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondents-Appellees
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Louisiana
USDC No. 1:12-CV-1824
Before DAVIS, SOUTHWICK, and HIGGINSON, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Leonard Sapp, federal prisoner # 55967-004, was convicted in the
Southern District of Florida of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute
crack cocaine and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. He was
sentenced to a total of 360 months of imprisonment. Sapp filed in the Western
District of Louisiana a petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 challenging his 360-
month sentence. He asserted that he was actually innocent of the sentence
because it was based on an erroneously applied career offender enhancement.
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not
be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.
R. 47.5.4.
Case: 13-30172 Document: 00512438547 Page: 2 Date Filed: 11/12/2013
No. 13-30172
The district court dismissed Sapp’s petition for lack of jurisdiction. Sapp
now appeals the district court’s dismissal, arguing that he is actually innocent
of the career offender enhancement. In reviewing the denial of a § 2241 petition,
we review the district court’s fact findings for clear error and issues of law de
novo. Jeffers v. Chandler,
253 F.3d 827, 830 (5th Cir. 2001).
Sapp’s § 2241 claim attacks the validity of the federal sentence imposed
in the Southern District of Florida and, therefore, the district court lacked
jurisdiction to construe his § 2241 petition as a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion. See
Pack v. Yusuff,
218 F.3d 448, 452 (5th Cir. 2000). Further, although Sapp
contends he is actually innocent of his sentence, a claim of actual innocence of
a career offender enhancement is not a claim of actual innocence of the crime of
conviction and, thus, does not warrant review under § 2241. Kinder v. Purdy,
222 F.3d 209, 213-14 (5th Cir. 2000). Because Sapp has not demonstrated that
his claim is based on a retroactively applicable Supreme Court decision
establishing that he was convicted of a nonexistent offense, the district court did
not err in determining that Sapp’s claim did not satisfy the savings clause of
§ 2255. See Reyes–Requena v. United States,
243 F.3d 893, 904 (5th Cir. 2001).
The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
2