Filed: Feb. 10, 2020
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: ALD-055 NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 19-2849 _ LIONEL HOLLOWAY, Appellant v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA _ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civil Action No. 1-19-cv-00200) District Judge: Honorable John E. Jones, III _ Submitted for Possible Summary Action Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6 November 26, 2019 Before: MCKEE, SHWARTZ and PHIPPS, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: Feb
Summary: ALD-055 NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 19-2849 _ LIONEL HOLLOWAY, Appellant v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA _ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civil Action No. 1-19-cv-00200) District Judge: Honorable John E. Jones, III _ Submitted for Possible Summary Action Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6 November 26, 2019 Before: MCKEE, SHWARTZ and PHIPPS, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: Febr..
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ALD-055 NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 19-2849
___________
LIONEL HOLLOWAY,
Appellant
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
____________________________________
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. Civil Action No. 1-19-cv-00200)
District Judge: Honorable John E. Jones, III
____________________________________
Submitted for Possible Summary Action
Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6
November 26, 2019
Before: MCKEE, SHWARTZ and PHIPPS, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: February 10, 2020)
_________
OPINION *
_________
PER CURIAM
*
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
Lionel Holloway appeals from an order of the District Court denying his petition
for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. For the reasons that follow, we will
summarily affirm.
In 2009, Holloway pled guilty in the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, having been designated
as an armed career criminal based on three previous felony convictions for serious drug
offenses. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed on direct
appeal. United States v. Holloway, 431 F. App’x 233 (4th Cir. 2011). Holloway
subsequently filed two 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motions, arguing that he no longer qualified as
an armed career criminal in light of Johnson v. United States,
135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015), and
that he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Both § 2255 motions were denied;
the first as untimely and the second as an unauthorized successive motion that was
nonetheless meritless. The Fourth Circuit also denied his application for authorization to
file a successive § 2255 motion.
On February 5, 2019, Holloway filed this petition for writ of habeas corpus under
28 U.S.C. § 2241, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of
Pennsylvania, again challenging his designation as an armed career criminal at
sentencing, and claiming he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. In response
to a question on the petition form as to why a remedy under § 2255 was inadequate or
ineffective, Holloway wrote: “Due to the nature of the argument; [sic] a motion pursuant
to Section 2241 is a more appropriate vehicle.” On June 26, 2019, the District Court
2
dismissed the § 2241 petition for lack of jurisdiction because Holloway had failed to
show that relief under § 2255 would be inadequate or ineffective. 1
Holloway appeals. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. 2 Our Clerk
advised the parties that we might act summarily to dispose of the appeal under Third Cir.
L.A.R. 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6.
We will summarily affirm the order of the District Court because no substantial
question is presented by this appeal, Third Circuit L.A.R. 27.4 and I.O.P. 10.6. “Motions
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 are the presumptive means by which federal prisoners can
challenge their convictions or sentences[.]” Okereke v. United States,
307 F.3d 117, 120
(3d Cir. 2002). Section 2255(e) of title 28, also known as the “savings clause,” provides,
however, that an application for a writ of habeas corpus may proceed if “it . . . appears
that the remedy by [§ 2255] motion is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of [a
prisoner’s] detention.” 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e). “Section 2255 is not inadequate or
ineffective merely because the sentencing court does not grant relief, the one-year statute
of limitations has expired, or the petitioner is unable to meet the stringent gatekeeping
requirements of the amended § 2255.” Cradle v. United States ex rel. Miner,
290 F.3d
1
On August 2, 2019, Holloway filed another § 2255 motion in the District of Maryland,
again challenging his designation at sentencing as an armed career criminal in light of
Supreme Court caselaw, and briefing was ordered.
2
A certificate of appealability is not required to appeal from the denial of a § 2241
petition. See Burkey v. Marberry,
556 F.3d 142, 146 (3d Cir. 2009).
3
536, 539 (3d Cir. 2002) (per curiam). “It is the inefficacy of the remedy, not the personal
inability to utilize it, that is determinative.”
Id. at 538.
When a federal prisoner attacks the validity of his conviction, he may proceed
under § 2241 only if (1) he asserts a colorable claim of actual innocence on the theory
that “he is being detained for conduct that has subsequently been rendered non-criminal
by an intervening Supreme Court decision,” and (2) he is “otherwise barred from
challenging the legality of the conviction under § 2255.” Cordaro v. United States,
933
F.3d 232, 239 (3d Cir. 2019) (quoting Bruce v. Warden Lewisburg USP,
868 F.3d 170,
180 (3d Cir. 2017)).
Holloway may not resort to the § 2241 remedy. He raises a claim that can be
brought in a second or successive § 2255 motion, provided that he meets the
requirements under § 2255(h) for doing so. 3 The fact that the Fourth Circuit denied
Holloway’s request to file a successive § 2255 motion does not mean that § 2255 is
inadequate or ineffective. See
Cradle, 290 F.3d at 539. Accordingly, the District Court
lacked jurisdiction over Holloway’s § 2241 petition and properly dismissed the petition.
For the foregoing reasons, we will summarily affirm the order of the District Court
dismissing Holloway’s § 2241 petition for lack of jurisdiction.
3
Indeed, Holloway has filed a § 2255 motion in the sentencing court and briefing has
been ordered.
4