Opinion ID: 771073
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Propriety of Relief under 2255

Text: 15 In appeal number 98-2012, Torres-Otero contends that the district court committed reversible error by declining to order vacatur of his original sentence and de novo resentencing. If he is right, our discussion in Part II would be largely academic, since the conclusion that we may consider the direct criminal appeal as a jurisdictional matter would take a back seat to the issue of whether we should consider it as a remedy under 2255. We review the district court's determination of the appropriate remedy for a 2255 violation for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Gordon, 156 F.3d 376, 381 (2d Cir. 1998). 16 Torres-Otero's principal argument as to the district court's chosen remedy hinges on the meaning of 2255, which, in relevant part, reads: 17 If the court finds that the . . . sentence imposed was not authorized by law or otherwise open to collateral attack, . . . the court shall vacate and set the judgment aside and shall discharge the prisoner or resentence him or grant a new trial or correct the sentence as may appear appropriate. 18 28 U.S.C. 2255 (unnumbered ¶ 2). 19 Torres-Otero asserts that when the district court finds a defect in a criminal judgment, its options for remedying that defect under 2255 are limited, and that by authorizing a direct appeal in this case, the district court ventured outside the domain of permissible choices. In making this argument, Torres-Otero correctly notes that, in cases where the sentence (but not the conviction) is infirm, only the resentencing or correcting the sentence options are open to the district court, since a prisoner should never be discharged or granted a new trial based solely on a defective sentence. Going one step further, Torres-Otero asserts, without elaboration, that correct[ion of] the sentence was not an option to the district court in this case. Consequently, he argues, there was only one choice available to the district court: a full resentencing following vacatur of the original sentence. 5 20 Although Torres-Otero's argument has superficial appeal, we cannot accept its underlying premise that the district court was obliged to order a full resentencing after acknowledging its Rule 32 violation. As an initial matter, we note the broad leeway traditionally afforded district courts in the exercise of their 2255 authority. The 2255 remedy is broad and flexible, and entrusts to the courts the power to fashion an appropriate remedy. United States v. Garcia, 956 F.2d 41, 45 (4th Cir. 1992) (citing Andrews v. United States, 373 U.S. 334, 339, 10 L. Ed. 2d 383, 83 S. Ct. 1236 (1963)). This is so because a district court's power under 2255 is derived from the equitable nature of habeas corpus relief. United States v. Handa, 122 F.3d 690, 691 (9th Cir. 1997) (internal citations omitted); see also Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298, 319, 130 L. Ed. 2d 808, 115 S. Ct. 851 (1995) (Habeas corpus is, at its core, an equitable remedy.). 21 Moreover, and more to the point, we are of the opinion that the district court's order was an appropriate correction of Torres-Otero's sentence. As we have previously noted, the grant of authority to correct the sentence as may appear appropriate that appears in 2255 expressly vests some power in the district court. United States v. Rodriguez, 112 F.3d 26, 29 (1st Cir. 1997). The district court's failure to advise Torres-Otero of his right to appeal constituted an error in the sentencing proceeding; his cause of action therefore arises under 2255 solely because the original sentence is subject to collateral attack. The district court chose to remedy this defect in the sentence by allowing Torres-Otero to pursue his direct appeal. Putting aside the allure of its logical symmetry, we find this approach to be within the equitable discretion of a district court acting to correct the sentence as may appear appropriate. Cf. United States v. Hillary, 106 F.3d 1170, 1172 (4th Cir. 1997) (Certainly the most 'appropriate' remedy is to put 2255 defendants in the same boat as direct appellants . . . .). 6 22 Torres-Otero invokes Rodriquez v. United States, 395 U.S. 327, 23 L. Ed. 2d 340, 89 S. Ct. 1715 (1969), and Bonneau v. United States, 961 F.2d 17 (1st Cir. 1992), in an attempt to cast doubt on the permissibility of the district court's order. His reliance on these cases, however, is misplaced, as neither case considered whether a de novo resentencing is required in a situation such as this. Indeed, in those courts that have actually considered the issue, there appears to be uniform agreement that de novo resentencing is not required. For example, in United States v. Prado, 204 F.3d 843 (8th Cir. 2000), the petitioner raised the deprivation of his right to appeal in the context of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. The district court granted 2255 relief by vacating the petitioner's original sentence and reimposing the same sentence to permit the filing of an appeal. Dissatisfied with this remedy, the petitioner appealed the district court's 2255 order as well as his sentence. Id. at 845. The Eighth Circuit rejected petitioner's claim of entitlement to de novo resentencing, including preparation of a presentence report and the opportunity to be heard on sentencing issues, after vacatur of his initial sentence: The prescribed procedure is for the district court to vacate the sentence and then reimpose it, allowing the defendant ten days to appeal from the imposition of the new sentence. Id. (citing United States v. Beers, 76 F.3d 204, 205 (8th Cir. 1996) (per curiam)). 23 Likewise, in United States v. Phillips, 225 F.3d 1198 (11th Cir. 2000), the Eleventh Circuit, on facts similar to the ones before us, endorsed the granting of an out-of-time appeal as a 2255 remedy. Phillips involved a petitioner who had not been advised by either the court or his lawyer of his right to appeal. Four years after being sentenced, he filed a 2255 motion on this basis. The district court granted his motion and awarded an out-of-time appeal as the remedy. Id. at 1199. The Eleventh Circuit found that Congress wrote 2255 in such a way as to permit district courts to authorize vacatur of sentence and summary reimposition of those sentences, and noted the intrinsic soundness of the approach taken by the district court: Vacating a sentence and resentencing a defendant are remedies authorized by 2255, and by using them a court can give a defendant access to the right that was previously and wrongfully denied - the right to appeal the sentence. Id. at 1200-01. It then outlined the approach to be followed by district courts in this circumstance: 24 When the district courts . . . conclude that an out-of-time appeal in a criminal case is warranted as the remedy in a 2255 proceeding, they should effect the remedy in the following way: (1) the criminal judgment from which the out-of-time appeal is to be permitted should be vacated; (2) the same sentence should then be reimposed; (3) upon reimposition of that sentence, the defendant should be advised of all the rights associated with an appeal from any criminal sentence; and (4) the defendant should also be advised that the time for filing a notice of appeal from that re-imposed sentence is ten days, which is dictated by [Federal] Rule [of Appellate Procedure] 4(b)(1)(A)(i). 25 Id. at 1201. 26 We agree with the Eighth and Eleventh Circuits and hold that, in cases where the defendant is awarded an out-of-time appeal as a 2255 remedy for either a Rule 32 or Sixth Amendment violation, the district court is not required to engage in de novo resentencing, but may instead vacate the initial sentence and summarily reimpose a sentencing judgment identical in all respects to the earlier judgment except for the date of entry.