TODD J. CAMPBELL, District Judge.
Pending before the Court is a Motion Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 To Vacate, Set Aside, Or Correct Sentence By A Person In Federal Custody (Docket No. 1), filed by the Movant/Petitioner (hereinafter "Petitioner"),
The Court held an evidentiary hearing on June 4 and 6, 2012. (Docket Nos. 29, 30). The parties filed post-hearing briefs on the issue of trial counsel's alleged failure to file a notice of appeal, and the appropriate remedy for the alleged failure. (Docket Nos. 31, 34).
In the underlying criminal case, the Petitioner was charged with armed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2113(a), (d). (Docket No. 10 in Case No. 3:09-00090). Prior to trial, the Petitioner raised issues regarding his conditions of confinement at the Robertson County Detention Facility, and counsel for the Petitioner, Ronald C. Small, presented evidence to support his claims during a six-day evidentiary hearing, and ultimately secured the Petitioner's transfer to another facility. (Docket No. 94 in Case No. 3:09-00090).
Prior to the completion of the evidentiary hearing, the Petitioner entered a guilty plea to the charge in the Indictment. (Docket Nos. 79, 89 in Case No. 3:09-00090). At the subsequent sentencing hearing, on December 7, 2009, the Court sentenced the Petitioner to 168 months of imprisonment, which was below the applicable sentencing guideline range, as a Career Offender, of 188-235 months. (Docket Nos. 109, 110, 115 in Case No. 3:09-00090). The reduction of Petitioner's sentence was based on his harsh conditions of pretrial confinement and his efforts in challenging those conditions. (
At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the Court advised the Petitioner of his right to appeal and that any notice of appeal had to be filed within ten days. (Docket No. 115, at 52-53 in Case No. 3:09-00090). The Court also gave the Petitioner a Notice of Appeal form. (
Petitioner contends that his conviction should be vacated on the following grounds: (1) he received the ineffective assistance of counsel; (2) his guilty plea was not made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily; (3) he was subjected to prosecutorial misconduct; and (4) his sentence was enhanced by a prior conviction that was unconstitutional.
Because the Court concludes that Petitioner is entitled to a delayed appeal, the Court finds it unnecessary to rule on the merits of Petitioner's other claims. Nothing herein is intended to preclude the Petitioner from raising those claims on direct appeal or in a later collateral proceeding if otherwise permitted by applicable law.
Section 2255 provides federal prisoners with a statutory mechanism by which to seek to have their sentence vacated, set aside or corrected.
Rule 4(b) of the Rules Governing Section 2255 Proceedings provides that the Court shall consider the "files, records, transcripts, and correspondence relating to the judgment under attack" in ruling on a petition or motion filed under Section 2255. In addition, where the same judge considering the Section 2255 motion also presided over the underlying criminal proceedings, the judge may rely on his own recollection of those proceedings.
In order to prevail on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the burden is on the Petitioner to show: (1) trial counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness; and (2) there is a reasonable probability that, but for the deficiency, the outcome of the proceedings would have been different.
"The benchmark for judging any claim of ineffectiveness must be whether counsel's conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied upon as having produced a just result."
In
When the client has not specifically instructed his or her attorney to file an appeal, however, the court is to consider whether the attorney "consulted" with the defendant about the advantages and disadvantages of filing an appeal. 120 S.Ct. at 1035. If the attorney has consulted with his client about the possibility of filing an appeal, his or her conduct is considered professionally unreasonable only if he or she fails to follow the defendant's express instructions.
Petitioner contends that he instructed his trial counsel, Mr. Small, to file a notice of appeal after his sentencing hearing on December 7, 2009. At the evidentiary hearing on Petitioner's Motion To Vacate, Mr. Small testified that he did not recall Petitioner requesting that he file a notice of appeal after the sentencing hearing:
(Transcript of Hearing on June 4, 2012, at 93 (Docket No. 29)).
Mr. Small testified that he subsequently sent a letter dated December 9, 2012 (Exhibit No. 20) to the Petitioner at the Overton County Jail, where the Petitioner was being housed, in which he enclosed the Judgment and advised the Petitioner about the deadline for filing a notice of appeal. (Docket No. 29, at 86). Having received no response to the letter, Mr. Small assumed that the Petitioner did not want to appeal. (
Mr. Small testified that he did not know when the Petitioner was transferred from the Overton County Jail, and explained that he does not receive notice when a client is moved from one facility to another due to security reasons. (
On the other hand, the Petitioner testified that he asked Mr. Small to appeal his sentence before he left the courtroom after the sentencing hearing on December 7, 2011:
(Transcript of Hearing on June 6, 2012, at 117-18 (Docket No. 30)). According to the Petitioner, he did not see Mr. Small after that hearing. (
Once he arrived at Pollock, the Petitioner testified that he wrote to the clerk of court for a copy of the docket sheet in his case, and in early April, 2010, with assistance from someone who worked in the law library, learned that a notice of appeal had not been filed in his case. (
As noted above, the Petitioner filed a
Having observed the demeanor of both the Petitioner and Mr. Small during the evidentiary hearing in this case, the Court is persuaded that the Petitioner asked Mr. Small to file a notice of appeal after the sentencing hearing on December 7, 2012, and in the commotion that took place as the Petitioner was handcuffed and removed from the courtroom, Mr. Small did not hear the Petitioner make the request. The subsequent actions by both the Petitioner and Mr. Small confirm this conclusion. Mr. Small, for his part, drafted a letter advising the Petitioner in writing about his appeal deadline, and his opinion about appealable issues. He is unlikely to have taken the time to draft and send such a letter if he had heard the Petitioner make the earlier request to file an appeal. Drafting the letter would likely take longer than filing the notice of appeal form with the clerk after the sentencing hearing. The Petitioner, for his part, was transported unusually quickly by the Bureau of Prisons from the Overton County Jail to other facilities over a three-month period, and did not receive Mr. Small's letter. Having failed to receive the letter and believing that trial counsel had heard him request the filing of a notice of appeal, the Petitioner did not file his own appeal or make efforts to direct counsel to do so during the critical 14-day appeal period.
Under these circumstances, the Court concludes that Mr. Small was not ineffective for failing to file a notice of appeal. On the other hand, the Court is persuaded that, due to an unusual confluence of events, the Petitioner was denied access to the courts during the critical 14-day period for filing a direct appeal because he was transferred to a new facility within a week after sentencing, and consequently, did not receive his counsel's letter alerting him to the need to file an appeal.
Accordingly, the Court concludes that the Petitioner is entitled to a delayed appeal. The Court vacates its Judgment In A Criminal Case, filed in Case No. 3:09-00090 (Docket Nos. 109, 110), and reenters the Judgment as of the date of entry of this Order. The Judgment otherwise remains unchanged. The Petitioner is advised that he has a right to appeal the re-imposed sentence, and that the time for filing a notice of appeal from the reimposed sentence is 14 days, pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(b)(1)(A)(i).
The Clerk of Court is directed to file a copy of this Memorandum and Order in Criminal Case No. 3:09-00090.
For the reasons set forth herein, the Court concludes that Petitioner is entitled to a delayed appeal.
It is so ORDERED.