Court Opinion

ID: 9363388
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-16 00:00:48.086061+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:31.623983
License: Public Domain

Case: 21-30766         Document: 00516611195             Page: 1      Date Filed: 01/13/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                      ____________
                                                                               United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit
                                       No. 21-30766
                                     Summary Calendar                                 FILED
                                     ____________                               January 13, 2023
                                                                                 Lyle W. Cayce
   Darrin Lashaon Betts,                                                              Clerk

                                                                   Petitioner—Appellant,

                                             versus

   Calvin Johnson, Warden, Federal Correctional Complex Pollock,

                                                Respondent—Appellee.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                         for the Western District of Louisiana
                                USDC No. 1:21-CV-3219
                      ______________________________

   Before Barksdale, Elrod, and Haynes, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Darrin Lashaon Betts, federal prisoner # 21755-078 and proceeding
   pro se, appeals the dismissal for lack of jurisdiction of his 28 U.S.C. § 2241
   habeas petition, challenging his 240-months’ sentence for possession of
   methamphetamine with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C.
   § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A). The district court concluded Betts could not contest

          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 21-30766        Document: 00516611195         Page: 2      Date Filed: 01/13/2023

                                          No. 21-30766

   his sentence under § 2241 because he failed to satisfy the “savings clause”
   of 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e). Whether jurisdiction exists is a question of law
   reviewed de novo. E.g., Requena-Rodriguez v. Pasquarell, 190 F.3d 299, 302
   (5th Cir. 1999).
          A § 2255 motion is the primary vehicle for collaterally attacking a
   federal sentence. E.g., Pack v. Yusuff, 218 F.3d 448, 451 (5th Cir. 2000). A
   prisoner may challenge the basis of his federal custody in a § 2241 petition,
   however, if he shows the remedy under § 2255 is “inadequate or ineffective
   to test the legality of his detention”. 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e); see also Reyes-
   Requena v. United States, 243 F.3d 893, 901 (5th Cir. 2001) (articulating
   savings-clause test). To satisfy this burden, a prisoner must present a claim:
   “that is based on a retroactively applicable Supreme Court decision which
   establishes that the petitioner may have been convicted of a nonexistent
   offense”; and “that was foreclosed by circuit law at the time when the claim
   should have been raised in the petitioner’s trial, appeal, or first § 2255
   motion”. Reyes-Requena, 243 F.3d at 904.
          Betts’ challenge is not based on a retroactively-applicable Supreme
   Court decision establishing he may have been convicted of a non-existent
   offense; therefore, he fails to show a § 2255 remedy is “is inadequate or
   ineffective to test the legality of his detention”. E.g., id. at 901.
          AFFIRMED.

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