United States v. Little

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
TENTH CIRCUIT
U N ITED STA TES O F A M ER ICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
No. 06-4050
v. (D.C. No. 2:98-CV -880-DS)
(Utah)
ROBERT ALLEN LITTLE, JR.,
Defendant-Appellant.
OR DER
Filed January 12, 2007
Before M U R PHY , SE YM OU R, and M cCO NNELL, Circuit Judges.
This matter is before the court on appellant’s M otion To Correct Clerical
Error, filed on November 2, 2006. That motion is granted. Contemporaneously
with the entry of this order, the clerk is directed to reissue the Order filed
originally in this matter on October 17, 2006. That order will issue nunc pro tunc
to the original filing date.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
ELISABETH A. SHUM AK ER
Clerk of Court
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UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
TENTH CIRCUIT
U N ITED STA TES O F A M ER ICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
No. 06-4050
v. (D.C. No. 2:98-CV -880-DS)
(Utah)
ROBERT ALLEN LITTLE, JR.,
Defendant-Appellant.
AMENDED ORDER *
Filed January 12, 2007
Issued Nunc Pro Tunc to October 17, 2006
Before M U R PHY , SE YM OU R, and M cCO NNELL, Circuit Judges.
Robert Allen Little, Jr., a federal prisoner proceeding pro se 1 , challenges
the district court’s denial of his Rule 60(b)(4) motion. Because we conclude the
district court correctly treated M r. Little’s motion as a successive § 2255 motion,
*
This order is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of
the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel.
1
Because he is proceeding pro se, we review M r. Little’s pleadings and
filings liberally. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21 (1972); Hall v.
Bellmon, 935 F.2d 1106, 1110 (10th Cir.1991).
we construe M r. Little’s notice of appeal as an application to file a second or
successive habeas petition and deny it. 2
M r. Little is currently serving a twelve-year sentence for setting off a
pipebomb outside the dormitory room of two African-American students at Dixie
College in St. George, Utah. Little w as certified as an adult for trial, pursuant to
18 U.S.C. § 5082, based on a prior California juvenile conviction. He was
convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 844(i) (malicious damage and destruction by
fire and explosive), and 42 U.S.C. § 3631(a) (interference with housing rights of
person on the basis of race). W e affirmed the conviction. See United States v.
Little, No. 96-4136, 1997 W L 767765 (10th Cir. Dec. 11, 1997).
In 1998, M r. Little filed his first motion to vacate, set aside or correct his
sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. The district court denied his motion, and
M r. Little appealed. W e denied his application for a certificate of appealability
(“COA”) and dismissed his appeal. See United States v. Little, 43 Fed. Appx.
368, 2002 W L 1881132 (10th Cir., Aug. 16, 2002). Since then, M r. Little has
filed several applications requesting authorization to file successive § 2255
2
M r. Little also filed an application for a certificate of appealability
(“COA”). Ordinarily, a litigant seeking to appeal a district court’s denial of his
Rule 60(b) motion must obtain a COA. See Spitznas v. Boone, __ F.3d __, 2006
W L 2789868 at *3 (10th Cir., Sept. 29, 2006). However, where, as here, the
district court correctly construed the litigant’s Rule 60(b) motion as a second or
successive § 2255 motion and dismissed it for lack of jurisdiction, the proper
avenue for the litigant is to seek authorization from this court to file the
successive § 2255 motion, and a COA is not necessary. Id. at *4.
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motions, all of which we have dismissed or denied for failure to satisfy the
AEDPA criteria. M r. Little filed the present motion under F ED . R. C IV . P.
60(b)(4), claiming it w as not a collateral attack on his conviction and sentence.
The district court disagreed, denying the petition and dismissing the underlying
claims as unauthorized successive § 2255 claims.
Our review of the record reveals that M r. Little’s Rule 60(b)(4) motion is
not a “true” Rule 60(b) motion, but is instead a successive §2255 motion
masquerading as a Rule 60(b) motion. See Spitznas v. Boone, __ F.3d __, 2006
W L 2789868 at *1 (10th Cir., Sept. 29, 2006). “[A] 60(b) motion is a second or
successive [§ 2255 motion] if it in substance or effect asserts or reasserts a
federal basis for relief from the petitioner’s underlying conviction” or sentence.
Id. Although M r. Little argues that his motion challenges the district court’s
ruling on the § 2255 motion he filed in 1998, his argument that he should have
been sentenced pursuant to one guideline provision rather than another merely
reasserts a federal basis for relief from his underlying sentence. As such, the
district court correctly construed his Rule 60(b) motion as a successive § 2255
motion and properly dismissed it for lack of jurisdiction.
Accordingly, we construe M r. Little’s notice of appeal as an application for
authorization to file a successive § 2255 motion. “Under the AEDPA , a second or
successive § 2255 motion is not permitted to be filed in district court until the
‘applicant [moves] in the appropriate court of appeals for an order authorizing the
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district court to consider the application.’ 28 U.S. C. §§ 2244(b)(3)(a) and 2255.”
Leonard v. United States, 383 F.3d 1146, 1147 (10th Cir. 2004). In order to
receive authorization to file a successive petition,
an applicant must make a prima facie showing that he satisfies the
criteria in § 2244(b)(2). . . . That is he must show that: (i) the factual
predicate for the claim could not have been discovered previously
through the exercise of due diligence; and (ii) the facts underlying
the claim, if proven and viewed in light of the evidence as a whole,
would be sufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence
that, but for constitutional error, no reasonable factfinder would have
found the applicant guilty of the underlying offense. See 28 U.S.C. §
2244(b)(2)(B).
Spitznas, 2006 W L 2789868 at *12. W e need not consider whether M r. Little
meets the second element of this inquiry, “since the test is conjunctive and he
fails the first element.” Id. M r. Little presents no new facts or evidence in
support of his claim that he was sentenced improperly.
Based on the foregoing, we GRANT M r. Little’s request to proceed on
appeal in forma pauperis, but we DENY M r. Little’s application for authorization
to file a successive § 2255 motion and DISM ISS his appeal.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
Stephanie K. Seymour
Circuit Judge
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