United States v. Holly, No. 11-7034 (10th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePro se prisoner Petitioner Melvin Holly petitioned the Tenth Circuit for a certificate of appealability (COA) to challenge a district court's denial in part and dismissal in part of his "Motion for Severance, 'Conflict of Interest,' Change of Venue, Pursuant to Rule 18 U.S.C. 3234 Fed. R. Crim. P." Petitioner was a former sheriff and had been convicted on numerous counts "related to the sexual abuse of inmates, employees, and an employee's daughter at the Latimer County jail." He pursued a direct appeal, a motion to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence and various other forms of relief. Petitioner's motion asserted that: (1) because the Tenth Circuit had reversed some of his convictions in his direct appeal, those counts should be severed from the remaining counts of conviction; (2) some of the jurors knew him, requiring a change of venue; (3) his defense counsel had a conflict of interest because counsel was representing another defendant (whom Petitioner had arrested and jailed at the Latimer County jail) in a separate proceeding; (4) the then-current United States Attorney had a conflict of interest because he and Petitioner were longtime friends; and (5) in light of these issues, Petitioner was deprived of his liberty without due process. In addition to severance and a change of venue, Petitioner requested a new trial or a reversal of his convictions. Because his motion attempted to bring unauthorized second or successive 28 U.S.C. 2255 claims, the Tenth Circuit denied Petitioner's request for a certificate of appealability (COA) and dismissed his appeal.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.