Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-16-06125/USCOURTS-ca10-16-06125-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Jimmy Eugene Rhodes
Petitioner

Document Text:

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

_________________________________

In re: JIMMY EUGENE RHODES, 

 Movant.

No. 16-6125

(D.C. Nos. 5:04-CV-00615-R &

5:01-CR-00202-R-1)

(W.D. Okla.)

_________________________________

ORDER

_________________________________

Before BRISCOE, GORSUCH, and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges.

_________________________________

Movant Jimmy Eugene Rhodes, a federal prisoner proceeding through counsel,

1

seeks an order authorizing him to file a second or successive 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion in 

the district court so he may assert claims for relief based on Johnson v. United States, 

135 S. Ct. 2251 (2015). 2

 See 28 U.S.C. §§ 2255(h), 2244(b)(3). Because Movant has 

made a prima facie showing that he satisfies the relevant conditions for authorization 

under § 2255(h)(2), we grant authorization.

In 2002, Movant was convicted of multiple offenses, including one or more 

firearms offenses. He alleges that he received sentence enhancements under the Armed 

 1 The Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Oklahoma is appointed 

to represent Jimmy Eugene Rhodes pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3006A(a)(2)(B).

2 The Federal Public Defender filed the initial motion for authorization, and later 

filed a “Advisement to the Court” stating that he did not intend to file a proposed § 2255 

motion because he saw no non-frivolous basis for the proposed motion. Movant then 

filed a pro se motion for authorization, accompanied by a proposed § 2255 motion. 

Counsel has not moved to withdraw. We proceed to consider both the counseled and pro 

se filings.

FILED

United States Court of Appeals

Tenth Circuit

July 12, 2016

Elisabeth A. Shumaker

Clerk of Court

Appellate Case: 16-6125 Document: 01019655710 Date Filed: 07/12/2016 Page: 1 
2

Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), and U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, based on his 

having the requisite number of qualifying prior convictions. See 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1) 

(three prior convictions for a violent felony); U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1 (two prior convictions for 

a crime of violence). Both of these enhancements, he contends, arose from one or more 

of his prior convictions qualifying as a violent felony or crime of violence under the 

identical residual clauses contained in the ACCA and § 4B1.2. Movant now seeks to file 

a § 2255 motion challenging these enhancements based on the Supreme Court’s opinion 

in Johnson, which invalidated the residual clause in the ACCA’s definition of “violent 

felony” as unconstitutionally vague.

To obtain authorization, Movant must make a prima facie showing that his claim 

meets the gatekeeping requirements of § 2255(h). See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(C). A 

claim may be authorized under § 2255(h)(2) if it relies on “a new rule of constitutional 

law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was 

previously unavailable.” Johnson announced a new rule of constitutional law that was 

made retroactive to cases on collateral review in Welch v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1257, 

1265 (2016). Based on the information before us, we conclude that Movant has made the 

required showing that his proposed Johnson-based claims challenging sentence 

enhancements under the ACCA and U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1 qualify for authorization.

Accordingly, we grant Jimmy Eugene Rhodes authorization to file a second or 

successive § 2255 motion in district court to raise claims based on Johnson v. United 

States. In the interest of justice, we direct the Clerk to transfer the now-authorized 

successive § 2255 motion to the district court for the Western District of Oklahoma

Appellate Case: 16-6125 Document: 01019655710 Date Filed: 07/12/2016 Page: 2 
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pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631. The filing date of the authorized successive § 2255 motion 

is May 13, 2016, which is the date the motion for authorization was filed in this court. 

See 28 U.S.C. § 1631.

Entered for the Court

ELISABETH A. SHUMAKER, Clerk

Appellate Case: 16-6125 Document: 01019655710 Date Filed: 07/12/2016 Page: 3