Forrest v. United States, No. 18-1011 (8th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of petitioner's successive motion to correct his sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255. The court held that petitioner did not meet the requirements of section 2255(h)(2) for filing a successive motion, because Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551, 2557 (2015), did not undermine the court's conclusion on direct appeal that three of petitioner's prior convictions qualified as violent felonies under the force clause or the enumerated offenses clause. That Johnson might have eliminated a fourth conviction, or an unnecessary alternative ground for counting the three qualifying convictions, did not entitle petitioner to pursue a successive motion. The court therefore held that, without showing the retroactive decision in Johnson justified relief, petitioner could not challenge his sentence based on intervening decisions with not retroactive effect.
Court Description: Colloton, Author, with Loken and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Prisoner case - Habeas. For the court's opinion in Forrest's direct appeal, see U.S. v. Forrest, 611 F.3d 908 (8th Cir. 2010). Johnson does not undermine the court's determination that three of Forrest's prior convictions qualified as violent felonies under either the force clause or the enumerated offenses clause of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(e)2)(B) and the fact that Johnson might have eliminated a fourth offense does not entitle Forrest to pursue a successive motion; without a showing that the retroactive decision in Johnson justifies relief, Forrest cannot challenge his sentence based on intervening decisions with no retroactive effect, and the order of the district court denying his successive motion to correct his sentence is affirmed. Judge Kelly, concurring in the judgment.
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