Filed: May 18, 2017
Latest Update: May 18, 2017
Summary: ORDER J. RANDAL HALL , Chief District Judge . On March 6, 2017, Defendant Abizahi Guarduno-Rivera was sentenced to serve a total of 288 months of imprisonment. Defendant did not appeal his conviction or sentence, and the time to do so has passed. On May 17, 2017, Defendant filed a motion for a copy of the transcript for the sentencing hearing. Defendant states that he needs the transcript for a future challenge to his sentence and for a *clemency request." The record indicates that the hea
Summary: ORDER J. RANDAL HALL , Chief District Judge . On March 6, 2017, Defendant Abizahi Guarduno-Rivera was sentenced to serve a total of 288 months of imprisonment. Defendant did not appeal his conviction or sentence, and the time to do so has passed. On May 17, 2017, Defendant filed a motion for a copy of the transcript for the sentencing hearing. Defendant states that he needs the transcript for a future challenge to his sentence and for a *clemency request." The record indicates that the hear..
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ORDER
J. RANDAL HALL, Chief District Judge.
On March 6, 2017, Defendant Abizahi Guarduno-Rivera was sentenced to serve a total of 288 months of imprisonment. Defendant did not appeal his conviction or sentence, and the time to do so has passed.
On May 17, 2017, Defendant filed a motion for a copy of the transcript for the sentencing hearing. Defendant states that he needs the transcript for a future challenge to his sentence and for a *clemency request." The record indicates that the hearing has not been transcribed.
A defendant may not obtain a free transcript unless he shows that the transcript is necessary to decide an issue presented by suit or appeal. See 28 U.S.C. § 753(f). Moreover, the Eleventh Circuit has explained:
We hold that a request by a prisoner for access to the court files of his underlying criminal conviction is premature prior to the filing of a collateral attack on that conviction; a prisoner is entitled to access to the court files only after he has made a showing that such files are necessary to the resolution of an issue or issues he has presented in a non-frivolous pending collateral proceeding.
Hansen v. United States, 956 F.2d 245, 248 (11th Cir. 1992) (footnotes omitted); see also Walker v. United States, 424 F.2d 278, 278-79 (5th Cir. 1970) (stating that "[a] federal prisoner is not entitled to obtain copies of court records at Government expense for the purpose of searching the record for possible error").
Here, Defendant does not have an appeal or post conviction collateral attack pending. Thus, Defendant's motion for the sentencing transcript (doc. 58) is premature and must be DENIED.1
ORDER ENTERED.
