United States v. Jones, No. 13-50475 (5th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseDefendant, convicted of possession and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base, timely filed a notice of appeal and moved for a certificate of appealability (COA) after the district court concluded that his 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion was successive and transferred it to this court. The court granted a COA on the issue of whether a sentencing reduction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2) results in a new judgment such that a habeas application attacking the reduced sentence is not “second or successive” to previous habeas applications attacking the sentence. Relying on the plain text of section 3582(c)(2) and on decisions of the Supreme Court and its interpretation of the statute, the court held that a section 3582(c)(2) sentence reduction does not result in a new judgment, but rather only in the modification of an existing one, and a petitioner may not thereby avoid the requirements for filing “second or successive” habeas applications. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's transfer order and directed the Clerk to notify defendant that he must file in this court a motion for authorization under section 2244(b)(3)(A).
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