Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 5:99-CV-176-C (Criminal No. 5:97-CR-097-C)
March 27, 2002
ORDER
On this day the Court considered the Motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence by a Person in Federal Custody, filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 by Movant Jeffrey Lynn Carruth ("Carruth"). The Respondent United States of America filed an answer and Carruth has filed his objections to the answer. The Court has considered Carruth's motion and objections, Respondent's answer, and the record from criminal action no. 5:97-CR-097-C, and finds that the motion should be denied in all things.
Carruth is currently incarcerated in the United States Bureau of Prisons pursuant to judgments and sentences from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Lubbock Division, in Criminal Case Nos. 5:97-CR-097-C and 5:98-CR-045-C. On February 19, 1998, Carruth pleaded guilty to a one-count indictment charging him with possession of counterfeit obligations of the United States and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 472 and 2 in Criminal No. 5:97-CR-097-C. He was sentenced in that case on May 8, 1998, to 25 months' incarceration and three years' supervised release and ordered to pay a $100.00 special assessment. He did not file an appeal.
On April 6, 1998, Criminal No. 97-CR-131-D was transferred from the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Lubbock Division, and assigned Criminal No. 5:98-CR-045-C. In Criminal No. 5:98-CR-045-C, Carruth pleaded guilty on May 8, 1998, to an eight-count indictment charging him with attempting to utter and uttering counterfeit United States Treasury checks and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 472 and 2. He was sentenced to 33 months' incarceration and three years' supervised release on each of the eight counts, with the sentences to run concurrently to each other and with his sentence in Criminal No. 5:97-CR-097-C. He was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $800.00 and restitution in the amount of $5, 102.00. He did not file an appeal.
Carruth also claims to be incarcerated pursuant to a conviction and sentence out of the "10th District Court of Colorado."
In his original motion, Carruth raised the following complaint:
According to the U.S. District Court in Denver, CO (Judge Miller), U.S. Attorney Joseph Mackey, and U.S. Public Defender (Mr. Moore)[,] I was sentenced from the wrong guidelines in the Northern District of Texas case. I was sentenced under Guidline [ sic] § 2B5.1, and should have been sentenced under guidline [sic] § 2F1.1. The reason given was that according to § 2B5.1 application note (1), [t]his guidline [ sic] applies to an instrument that is . . . "not made out to a specific payee." Since these were clearly made out to a certain payee, § 2B5.1 does not apply and § 2F1.1 should have been used.
There are four grounds upon which a prisoner incarcerated pursuant to a federal conviction and sentence may move to have his sentence vacated, set aside, or corrected under 28 U.S.C. § 2255:
(1) The sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States;
(2) The court was without jurisdiction to impose the sentence;
(3) The sentence exceeds the statutory maximum sentence; or
(4) The sentence is "otherwise subject to collateral attack."
United States v. Placente, 81 F.3d 555, 558 (5th Cir. 1996). Relief under § 2255 is reserved for transgressions of constitutional rights and "for a narrow range of injuries that could not have been raised on direct appeal and would, if condoned, result in a complete miscarriage of justice." United States v. Walker, 68 F.3d 931, 934 (5th Cir. 1995) (quoting United States v. Acklen, 47 F.3d 739, 741 (5th Cir. 1995)).
Furthermore, following the Supreme Court's decision in Bousley v. United States, [ 523 U.S. 614, 621-623 (1998)], "a petitioner can successfully petition for § 2255 relief after a guilty plea only if: (1) the plea was not entered voluntarily or intelligently, . . . or (2) the petitioner establishes that he is actually innocent of the underlying crime." United States v. Sanders, 157 F.3d 302, 305 (5th Cir. 1998) (internal citations omitted). Carruth alleged neither that his guilty plea was coerced and involuntary nor that he was actually innocent of the underlying crime in his original motion. Furthermore, because Carruth argued in his original motion only that the sentencing court misapplied the Sentencing Guidelines, he failed to state a claim cognizable under § 2255. See United States v. Segler, 37 F.3d 1131, 1134 (5th Cir. 1994) (holding that a district court's technical application of the Guidelines does not give rise to a constitutional issue cognizable under § 2255).
Nevertheless, this Court has reviewed the proceedings surrounding Carruth's two pleas of guilty and finds that there is absolutely no evidence to support his claim that he was coerced or that the pleas were entered into unknowingly and involuntarily.
Moreover, Carruth was specifically advised, both in open court on February 19, 1998, and in the Plea Agreement that he signed on February 18, 1998, that the maximum sentence that could be imposed in Criminal No. 5:97-CR-097-C was fifteen years' imprisonment, and neither his 25-month sentence nor his 33-month sentences exceed the maximum sentence that could have been imposed.
For these reasons, this Court finds that Carruth has failed to demonstrate that his sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States. Accordingly, Carruth's Motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence should be DENIED and dismissed with prejudice.
All relief not expressly granted is denied and any pending motions are denied.
SO ORDERED.