IN RE: Marckson Saint FLEUR, Petitioner.
No. 16-12299-J
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
June 8, 2016
824 F.3d 1337
Before HULL, MARCUS, and MARTIN, Circuit Judges.
Here, Count 1 charged that Hines “by force, violence and intimidation, did take from the person or presence of [a teller] monies belong to [a federally-insured bank]” and that in doing so, Hines “did assault and put in jeopardy the life of [two individuals] by use of a dangerous weapon,” all in violation of
This means that Hines‘s conviction under
Wifredo A. Ferrer, Miami, FL, Pro Se.
Emily M. Smachetti, U.S. Attorney‘s Office, Miami, FL, for Successive Habeas Respondent.
BY THE PANEL:
Pursuant to
- (1) newly discovered evidence that, if proven and viewed in light of the evidence as a whole, would be sufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable factfinder would have found the movant guilty of the offense; or
- (2) a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable.
I. SAINT FLEUR‘S JOHNSON CLAIM
In his application, Saint Fleur seeks to raise one claim in a second or successive
Saint Fleur was not sentenced or subject to an enhancement under the ACCA. Rather, Saint Fleur appears to assert that the Supreme Court‘s holding in Johnson implicates his sentence for using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of
The ACCA,
(i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another; or
(ii) is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.
Distinct from the sentence provisions in
Except to the extent that a greater minimum sentence is otherwise provided by this subsection or by any other provision of law, any person who, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime (including a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime that provides for an enhanced punishment if committed by the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon or device) for which the person may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, uses or carries a firearm, or who, in furtherance of any such crime, possesses a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime of violence or drug trafficking crime—(i) be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years; (ii) if the firearm is brandished, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years; and (iii) if the firearm is discharged, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 10 years.
(A) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, or
(B) that by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense.
II. SAINT FLEUR‘S HOBBS ACT ROBBERY
Saint Fleur was charged, in the same Second Superseding Indictment, with one count of “Hobbs Act Robbery” (Count 4), in violation of
In that indictment, Count 4, the Hobbs Act robbery count, charged that Saint Fleur “did knowingly and unlawfully obstruct, delay and affect commerce ... by means of robbery, as the term[] ... ‘robbery’ [is] defined in Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1951(b)(1) and (b)(3), in that [Saint Fleur] did take United States currency from individuals at the Au Bon Gout Restaurant ... by means of actual and threatened force, violence, and fear of injury to said persons, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951(a) and 2.”
In that same indictment, Count 5, the
Saint Fleur pled guilty to Counts 4 and 5.
As recently pointed out in In re Pinder, “[o]ur Court hasn‘t decided if Johnson applies to
But we need not decide, nor remand to the district court, the
Specifically, Saint Fleur pled guilty to Count 4, which charged that Saint Fleur did affect commerce “by means of robbery,” as the term robbery is defined in
In sum, Saint Fleur pled guilty to using, carrying, and discharging a firearm during the Hobbs Act robbery set forth in Count 4, which robbery offense meets the use-of-force clause of the definition of a crime of violence under
Accordingly, because Saint Fleur has failed to make a prima facie showing of the existence of either of the grounds set forth in
MARTIN, Circuit Judge, concurring:
I agree that Marckson Saint Fleur‘s
Forgoing a detailed merits review makes sense because our decisions at this stage are typically based on nothing more than a form filled out by a prisoner. Without any briefing or other argument made by a lawyer, we are ill equipped to decide the merits of the claim. On top of that, we are expected to decide these applications
Given those limitations, it would be much more prudent, I believe, to allow the District Court to decide the merits of these cases in the first instance. The losing party can then appeal that decision. And in that context, our precedent provides that the decision on the merits appeal would not be controlled one way or another by the “limited determination” made in the order granting leave to file the
Even if some applications seem easy to deny based on how the merits look, this won‘t always be true. Mr. Saint Fleur‘s
Questions about how states apply their criminal statutes are rarely easy to answer. Again, the question can turn on the historical development of state law. It can also depend on changes in federal law. For example, the answer might depend on whether our precedent characterizing a particular state offense has been overruled by the Supreme Court, which has decided at least nine Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) cases in the past decade alone.2
Nothing in the habeas statute suggests that Congress expected us to decide the merits of a proposed claim when deciding whether to grant an application for leave to file a successive petition. When an appeals court panel combs a probation officer‘s unproven allegations to decide in the first instance if the applicant‘s sentence is lawful, it is deciding more than a “prima facie” case. In the somewhat analogous certificate of appealability (COA) context,3 the Supreme Court has said the COA statute‘s “threshold inquiry” is satisfied so long as “the issues presented are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.” Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 327, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 1034, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (2003). This “does not require a showing that the appeal will succeed.” Id. at 337, 123 S.Ct. at 1039. It doesn‘t even mean that “some jurists would grant the petition for habeas corpus. Indeed, a claim can be debatable even though every jurist of reason might agree, after the case has received full consideration, that petitioner will not prevail.” Id. at 338, 123 S.Ct. at 1040.
To some extent the COA standard is more demanding than the standard for granting an application to file a second or successive petition. A COA requires “a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.”
The stakes in these cases are very high, since many of these applicants claim they are in prison beyond the lawful limit of their sentence. And the margin for error is very low, since the “denial of an authorization by a court of appeals to file a second or successive application shall not be appealable and shall not be the subject of a petition for rehearing or for a writ of certiorari.”
