Zalaya v. Secretary, FL Dep't of Corrections, No. 12-16462 (11th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, a citizen of Honduras, appealed the district court's dismissal of his pro se federal habeas petition challenging his conviction for illegal reentry after deportation. The court concluded that the district court’s judgment must be affirmed, because petitioner raised his claim in an improper procedural vehicle. Rather than filing a motion to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255, the usual way for a federal prisoner to challenge a federal conviction, petitioner chose to file a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. 2241. In the court's view, the district court wisely declined to recharacterize his section 2241 petition as a section 2255 motion. The district court was not obliged to recast petitioner’s section 2241 petition over his express wishes, especially in light of the adverse consequences that can stem from filing a section 2255 motion. Nor did the district court err in dismissing petitioner's section 2241 petition.
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