Case Name: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michele M. NELSON, Defendant-Appellant
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2012-02-10
Citations: 448 F. App'x 637
Docket Number: No. 11-2923
Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michele M. NELSON, Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: Before FRANK H. EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, DANIEL A. MANION, Circuit Judge and ANN CLAIRE WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 448
Pages: 637–637

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michele M. NELSON, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 11-2923.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.
Submitted Jan. 30, 2012.
Decided Feb. 10, 2012.
John W. Vaudreuil, Office of the United States Attorney, Madison, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Michele M. Nelson, Waseca, MN, pro se.
Before FRANK H. EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, DANIEL A. MANION, Circuit Judge and ANN CLAIRE WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.
This successive appeal has been submitted to the original panel under Operating Procedure 6(b). After examining the briefs and the record, we have concluded that oral argument is unnecessary. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a); Cir. R. 34(f)

Opinion:
Order
In 2006 Michele Nelson pleaded guilty to drug crimes, and we dismissed her appeal as frivolous. See United States v. Briesemeister, 273 Fed.Appx. 534 (7th Cir.2008) (nonprecedential disposition). In July 2011 Nelson filed a motion asking the district court to reduce her sentence. The judge understood this motion to be based on a change in the way the Sentencing Guidelines calculate criminal history, and the judge denied it because the Sentencing Commission had not declared the change to have retroactive effect. Changes in the Guidelines apply retroactively only with the Sentencing Commission's authorization. See 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2).
In this court, Nelson contends that her motion has been misunderstood, and that she seeks to have Begay v. United States, 553 U.S. 137, 128 S.Ct. 1581, 170 L.Ed.2d 490 (2008), applied retroactively in a way that would reduce her criminal-history category. See Narvaez v. United States, - F.3d -, 2011 WL 6382106 (7th Cir.2011). But if we understand Nelson's motion as one under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, rather than under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2), this does her no good. Prisoners have only one year from the time a conviction becomes final to commence proceedings under § 2255. A new one-year period begins on "the date on which the right asserted was initially recognized by the Supreme Court, if that right has been newly recognized by the Supreme Court and made retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review". 28 U.S.C. § 2255(f)(3). If Begay is such a decision, then the additional one-year period began on April 16, 2008, and expired more than two years before Nelson filed her motion. Narvaez asked for relief within a year of Begay; Nelson did not.
So whichever way one understands Nelson's motion — as under § 3582(c)(2), or as under § 2255 — the district court did not err.
AFFIRMED