No. 20-7731

Rodney Bernard Allen v. United States

Lower Court: Fifth Circuit
Docketed: 2021-04-13
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP Experienced Counsel
Tags: armed-career-criminal-act bodily-injury certificate-of-appealability elements-clause fifth-circuit johnson-rule reckless-conduct successive-habeas-petition successive-motion texas-penal-code texas-robbery
Key Terms:
HabeasCorpus
Latest Conference: 2021-09-27
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether Texas robbery under Tex. Penal Code § 29.02(a) is categorically violent under the ACCA's elements clause

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. In Texas, a defendant commits simple robbery if, during the course of a theft, he recklessly causes someone else to suffer bodily injury or knowingly causes a victim to fear imminent bodily injury (even if he never meets, confronts, or interacts with the victim). Could reasonable jurists debate whether the crime defined by Texas Penal Code § 29.02(a) is categorically violent under the Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause, 18 U.S.C. § 92.4(e)(2)(B)@)? 2. After the Fifth Circuit granted prefiling authorization for the successive motion to vacate, 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h), the parties contested the case and the district court decided the case solely on the merits—whether the robbery convictions remained violent felonies without the ACCA’s unconstitutional residual clause. But when Mr. Allen later sought a Certificate of Appealability to challenge the district court’s adverse merits ruling, the Fifth Circuit sua sponte invoked its decision in United States v. Clay, 921 F.3d 550 (5th Cir. 2019). Under Clay, a successive § 2255 movant who invokes the new rule in Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. 591 (2015), must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that that his sentencing judge subjectively relied upon the ACCA’s residual clause at the original sentencing hearing. Could reasonable jurists debate the Fifth Circuit’s sua sponte application of Clay to this case? i

Docket Entries

2021-10-04
Petition DENIED.
2021-07-29
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
2021-07-14
Memorandum of respondent United States filed.
2021-06-02
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including July 14, 2021.
2021-06-01
Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 14, 2021 to July 14, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
2021-05-06
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including June 14, 2021.
2021-05-05
Motion to extend the time to file a response from May 13, 2021 to June 14, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
2021-04-09
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due May 13, 2021)

Attorneys

Rodney Bernard Allen
James Matthew WrightOffice of the Federal Public Defender, Petitioner
James Matthew WrightOffice of the Federal Public Defender, Petitioner
United States
Brian H. FletcherActing Solicitor General, Respondent
Brian H. FletcherActing Solicitor General, Respondent