In Re: Cain ( 1999 )

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 98-00042 & 98-00045
IN RE: SHANE McCLAINE CAIN
,
.
Motions for leave to file successive habeas corpus petitions
March 5, 1998
Before JOLLY, BENAVIDES and PARKER, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIUM:
IT IS ORDERED that Shane McClaine Cain’s petition to file
successive habeas corpus petition filed under cause number 98-00042
is CONSOLIDATED with Cain’s petition to file successive habeas
corpus petition filed under cause number 98-00045.
Shane McClaine Cain (”Cain”), Texas state prisoner #537264,
has filed two motions with this court for leave to file successive
habeas corpus petitions in the district court. Under 28 U.S.C. §
2244(b), a habeas applicant seeking to file a successive petition
raising a new claim must apply for leave to do so from the court of
appeals.
We must initially determine whether Cain’s petitions are
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“second or successive” so as to require permission to file from
this court. In cause number 98-00042, Cain states that he filed a
previous, unrelated federal habeas petition on October 14, 1997, in
which he challenged the good conduct time policy of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice (“TDCJ”). Cain states that he
intends in the present petition to challenge a prison disciplinary
conviction wherein he lost thirty days’ good conduct time that
became final after he had filed his habeas petition challenging the
TDCJ good conduct time policy. In cause number 98-00045, Cain
states that he filed a previous, unrelated federal habeas petition
challenging his state-court retaliation conviction. He states that
he intends, if granted permission, to file a habeas petition
challenging his prison disciplinary conviction for lying to an
officer, wherein he lost fifteen days’ good conduct time.
Cain’s motion presents an issue of first impression in this
circuit: whether a challenge to disciplinary proceedings that
became final subsequent to a prior habeas petition is a “second or
successive” petition which requires leave to file under 28 U.S.C.
§ 2244(b)(3). The relevant portion of the Antiterrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”), Pub.L. 104-132, 110 Stat.
1214 (1996), which is codified at 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b), provides:
(1) A claim presented in a second or successive
habeas corpus application under section 2254 that was
presented in a prior application shall be dismissed.
(2) A claim presented in a second or successive
habeas corpus application . . . that was not presented in
a prior application shall be dismissed unless—
(A) the applicant shows that the claim relies on a
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new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases
on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was
previously unavailable; or
(B)(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.
This provision, by curtailing the availability of “second or
successive habeas corpus application[s],” seeks to prevent state
prisoners from abusing the writ of habeas corpus. See Felker v.
Turpin, 116 S. Ct. 2333, 2340 (1996).
The AEDPA, however, does not define what constitutes a “second
or successive” application. Nevertheless, a prisoner’s application
is not second or successive simply because it follows an earlier
federal petition. Instead, section 2244 -- one of the gatekeeping
provisions of the AEDPA -- was enacted primarily to preclude
prisoners from repeatedly attacking the validity of their
convictions and sentences.1 Thus, a later petition is successive
when it: 1) raises a claim challenging the petitioner’s conviction
1
For example, section 2244(b)(2)(B) sheds considerable light on
the purpose of the AEDPA. Under this provision, a prisoner may
obtain federal review of a claim that newly discovered evidence
shows that a “reasonable fact finder would [not] have found the
applicant guilty of the underlying offense. 28 U.S.C. §
2244(b)(2)(B) (emphasis added). This provision thus strongly
supports the conclusion that the AEDPA is designed primarily to
preclude petitions brought by prisoners seeking to escape the
consequences of their criminal behavior by challenging the
validity, imposition, or execution of their convictions or
sentences.
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or sentence that was or could have been raised in an earlier
petition; or 2) otherwise constitutes an abuse of the writ. Cf.
Thomas v. Superintendent of the Woodbourne Correctional Facility,
No. 97-3578, 1997 WL 837185, at *3 (2d Cir. Nov. 21, 1997)
(instructing a district court to determine whether a petition was
successive by considering “whether the prior petition was dismissed
with prejudice and whether the instant petition attacks the same
judgment that was attacked in the prior petition”); Reeves v.
Little, 120 F.3d 1136, 1138 (10th Cir. 1997) (“In determining what
is a `second or successive’ motion under the statute, the circuits
which have reviewed this question use the `abuse of the writ’
standard.”) (citing In re Gasery, 116 F.3d 1051 (5th Cir. 1997));
see also Felker, 116 S. Ct. at 2340 (“The new restrictions on
successive petitions constitute a modified res judicata rule.”);
Gasery, 116 F.3d at 1052 (applying the abuse of the writ standard
to determine that a petition that was refiled after being dismissed
for failure to exhaust state remedies was not a “second or
successive” petition).
Under this understanding of the Act, Cain’s current petitions
are not successive. In these petitions, Cain seeks relief from two
post-conviction and post-sentence administrative actions taken by
his prison board, contending that he was stripped of his good-time
credits without due process of law. Rather than attacking the
validity of his conviction or sentence, Cain’s petitions focus on
the administration of his sentence. Indeed, even if his claims are
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found to be meritorious and his good-time credits are restored,
Cain will continue to serve his sentence as it was imposed by the
trial court.2
Moreover, Cain’s current petitions do not present claims that
were or could have been raised in his earlier petitions.
According to Cain, his earlier petitions, which were filed before
he was stripped of his good-time credits, challenged his criminal
conviction and the constitutionality of the TDCJ’s good-time
credits program.3 In contrast, Cain’s current applications focus
on the constitutionality of the procedures used to strip him of his
good-time credits. Further, given the timing of the board’s
decisions to strip him of these credits, Cain could not have
brought his due process claims in conjunction with his earlier
petitions. Accordingly, Cain’s current applications are not
2
This court has held that a Ford claim -— a claim that a
prisoner is incompetent to be executed —- is not an attack on the
validity of a death sentence but that a petition raising a Ford
claim is nevertheless successive when the petitioner has previously
challenged the validity of his sentence. In re Davis, 121 F.3d
952, 955 (5th Cir. 1997). This decision is not controlling in this
case. There can be no question that a Ford claim is different than
an effort to recover lost good-time credits, for if successful, a
Ford claim prevents a state from executing an imposed sentence and
thus allows a criminal to escape indefinitely the consequences of
his atrocious actions. Thus, unlike Cain’s petition, a petition
containing a Ford claim that is filed after the petitioner has
challenged the validity of his sentence in another application
strongly resembles the type of petition Congress intended to
preclude as successive under the AEDPA.
3
Of course, the district court is free to consider whether
Cain’s characterization of his previous petitions is correct.
Thomas, 1997 WL 837185, at *3.
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successive on the grounds that they constitute an abuse of the
writ.
Finally, the conclusion that Cain’s current petitions are not
successive is bolstered by the fact that a prisoner may seek
redress for the loss of good-time credits only through a habeas
petition. Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475 (1973). Under a
contrary holding, if a prisoner has previously filed a petition
challenging his conviction or sentence, any subsequent petition
challenging the administration of his sentence will necessarily be
barred by 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b), notwithstanding the possibility that
the events giving rise to this later application may not have
occurred until after the conclusion of the earlier habeas
proceeding. By definition, a prisoner challenging the
administration of his sentence will not be relying on newly
discovered evidence to show that a “reasonable fact finder would
[not] have found the applicant guilty of the underlying offense.
§ 2244(b)(2)(B). Likewise, a petitioner like Cain will also be
unable to show that his claim “relies on a new rule of
constitutional law,” § 2244(b)(2)(A), because the due process
principles governing challenges to the procedures used to strip a
prisoner of good-time credits are well-established. See, e.g.,
Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539 (1974). Consequently, we hold
that Congress did not intend for the interpretation of the phrase
“second or successive” to preclude federal district courts from
providing relief for a due process violation suffered by a prisoner
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who has previously filed a petition challenging the validity of his
petition or sentence, but is nevertheless not abusing the writ.
Therefore, Cain does not need this court’s permission to file
his two petitions because these petitions are not successive within
the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 2244.
DENIED AS UNNECESSARY.
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