Opinion
No. 1:11 CR107 HEA
04-29-2016
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. DANNY LEE BYRD, Defendant
OPINION. MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Before the Court is defendant's pro se motion for relief, which indicates that defendant believes he may be eligible for relief under the recent Supreme Court case of Johnson v. United States, 135 S.Ct. 2551 (2015).
On August 14, 2015, this Court entered an Administrative Order, titled In Re: Johnson v. United States. Pursuant to the Administrative Order, the Court will forward defendant's motion to the Office of the Public Defender for the Eastern District of Missouri, and provide the Public Defender forty-five (45) days to review the motion and defendant's criminal history in order to determine whether defendant has a potential argument for a sentence reduction under Johnson. In order to facilitate this process, the Court has issued a separate Administrative Order authorizing the Clerk of Court and the United States Probation Office to provide to the Office of the Federal Public Defender and to the Office of the United States Attorney any records in their possession, including sealed records from the court file, regarding the defendant's criminal history.
If the Public Defender's Office decides defendant has a potential argument under Johnson the Public Defender, no later than forty-five (45) days of the date of this Order, should file either a motion to vacate, brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, in this Court, or a request in the Court of Appeals for leave to bring a successive § 2255 motion, as required by 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3).
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Clerk of Court is directed to forward a copy of defendant's motion to the Office of the Public Defender for the Eastern District of Missouri.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Public Defender shall notify this Court, within forty-five (45) days of the date of this Memorandum and Order, whether it will be pursuing defendant's arguments under Johnson, either by filing a written notice in this action of their intent not to represent defendant, or by filing a motion to vacate, brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, in this Court, or a request to the Court of Appeals for leave to bring a successive § 2255 motion, as required by 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3).
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Court shall hold this matter in abeyance for forty-five (45) days.
Dated this 29th day of April, 2016
/s/_________
HENRY EDWARD AUTREY
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE