United States v. McRae

Defendant, convicted of four drug-related charges, filed a pro se motion entitled “Motion for Relief from Judgment 60(b)(1)(3)(6).” The district court dismissed the motion for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. At issue was whether the court can review the district court’s categorization of defendant’s motion without first issuing a Certificate of Appealability (“COA”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2253(c)(1)(B). The court held that recent Supreme Court jurisprudence has made clear that section 2253(c) does not apply in this particular situation. Because the court found that defendant’s motion constitutes a mixed Rule 60(b)/section 2255 motion, the court remanded to the district court to afford defendant the opportunity to decide whether to abandon his improper claim or to proceed with a successive habeas petition. View "United States v. McRae" on Justia Law