MORENO
v.
STORY
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The court held that a conviction for mail fraud does not require proof of tangible property loss, and the McNally decision does not apply retroactively to vacate sentences based on intangible property loss.
Movant sought relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, arguing that the Supreme Court's decision in McNally v. United States required a tangible property loss f…
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ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR RELIEF UNDER 28 U.S.C. § 2255
SPELLMAN, District Judge.
THIS CAUSE comes before the Court upon Movant’s Motion for Relief Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Upon careful review of the record, this Court finds that this Motion must be DENIED on grounds which are discussed more fully below.
The Movant argues that a recent Supreme Court ease,
McNally v. United States,
483 U.S. -, 107 S.Ct. 2875, 97 L.Ed.2d 292 (1987), requires that his sentence be vacated.
McNally
was decided
*1558
after Movant’s sentence was imposed and after his direct appeal of that sentence. Movant argues that
McNally
holds that a conviction for mail fraud requires an allegation and corresponding proof of the loss of a
tangible
property right. Specifically, Movant argues that
McNally
has been used to vacate convictions dealing with CTR reporting requirements (as were at issue in this case).
United States v. Corono,
— F.Supp. -, No. 83-854-CR (S.D. Fla. September 17, 1987);
United States v. Herron,
825 F. 2d 50 (5th Cir.1987);
United States v. Gimbel,
632 F.Supp. 748 (E.D. Wisc.1985).
The first question this Court must resolve is whether
McNally
should be applied retroactively in collateral attacks. The Movant argues that
McNally
should be applied retroactively, and cites
Ingber v. Enzor,
664 F.Supp. 814 (S.D.N.Y.1987) as support.
McNally
establishes the elements of the crime for which Movant was convicted — mail fraud. If the elements of that crime have not been met, then the conviction must be vacated. No crime has been committed, and the Movant cannot therefore be incarcerated. Therefore,
McNally
must be applied retroactively to any case, whether on direct appeal or collateral attack, in which it is appropriate; however, the question remains in this case whether
McNally
applies at all.
The Movant asserts that
McNally
applies because it holds that a
tangible
property loss must be both alleged and proved in a conviction for mail fraud. The Government argues that
McNally
was specifically limited in
Carpenter v. United States,
— U.S. -, 108 S.Ct. 316, 98 L.Ed.2d 275 (1987). The Supreme Court in that case clarified its position in
McNally
and held that
McNally
did not draw a distinction between tangible and intangible property.
In this case, there was intangible property at stake — the information which the Internal Revenue Service was deprived of (i.e., information contained within the CTR form and collected for “use of criminal, tax and regulatory investigations and proceedings”). This is consistent with the reasoning used in
Carpenter.
The Movant cites a decision in direct conflict with this result.
United States v. Gimbel,
830 F. 2d 621 (7th Cir.1987). This decision, however, was decided prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in
Carpenter. Accordingly,
Gimbel
is predicated on a misconception of
McNally
which was clarified in
Carpenter. This is supported by other cases which have confined
McNally
to its facts.
United States v. Fagan,
821 F. 2d 1002 (5th Cir.1987);
United States v. Wellman,
830 F. 2d 1453 (7th Cir.1987);
United States v. Runnels,
842 F. 2d 909 (6th Cir. 1988). Therefore, even though
McNally
does apply retroactively in collateral attacks, an intangible property loss is sufficient to support the “deprivation of property or money” requirement in mail fraud cases. Here, such loss was both 'alleged and proven.
Additionally, in subsequent motions the Movant has, without any support, argued that: 1) this Court’s sentence was in error because there was an extreme discrepancy between the Movant’s sentence and that of other defendants; 2) this Court was influenced by out-of-court statements that the funds were “drug-related;” 3) the Court did not consider the Movant’s age, medical condition or lack of prior convictions; 4) the Court relied on determinations reached in a co-defendant’s trial that the Movant was a “principle” in the criminal scheme; 5) the PSI contained improper inferences that the funds were proceeds of drug trafficking; and 6) this Court should have given the Parole Commission discretion to release him on parole whenever the Parole Commission deems appropriate, instead of denying parole eligibility until after ten years imprisonment has been served. These arguments lack any support in law or fact and are therefore rejected by this Court.
Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that this Motion for Relief Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 is DENIED. Additionally, this Court finds Movant’s Motion for Hearing to be unnecessary and that Motion is also DENIED.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- McNALLY v. United States, 483 U.S. 350 (U.S. 1987)
- Carpenter v. United States, 484 U.S. 19 (U.S. 1987)
- United States v. Wellman, 830 F.2d 1453 (7th Cir. 1987)
- United States v. Gimbel, 830 F.2d 621 (7th Cir. 1987)
- United States v. Fagan, 821 F.2d 1002 (5th Cir. 1987)
- United States v. Claudy Ray Herron and Johannes Faul, 825 F.2d 50 (5th Cir. 1987)
- United States v. Runnels, 842 F.2d 909 (6th Cir. 1988)