Beltran v. United States

Background

On October 10, 2019, the court denied Javier Beltran’s petition for relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, a federal procedure for challenging a sentence after conviction. The court rejected Beltran’s argument that murder in aid of racketeering under 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(1) was not a “crime of violence” that could support his firearms conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The court also rejected Beltran’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim as meritless.

Beltran moved for reconsideration on December 17, 2019. He acknowledged that the motion was untimely and said his counsel had not noticed the October 10 order until the previous week. The reconsideration motion relied only on the argument that murder in aid of racketeering was not a crime of violence; Beltran did not renew his ineffective-assistance claim. The court invited the government to respond, and the government opposed the motion.

Reasons for the ruling

The court summarily denied reconsideration on three independent grounds.

First, the motion was untimely. Although the court had invited a response to help ensure a correct result, it concluded that the filing deadline could not be avoided.

Second, the motion did not satisfy the strict standard for reconsideration. Beltran did not identify controlling decisions or information that the court had overlooked. The court had already considered and distinguished the decisions in Johnson v. United States and United States v. Davis. Beltran also did not identify extraordinary circumstances supporting reconsideration or claim actual innocence. The court noted that he had been charged with murder in aid of racketeering and conspiracy to commit that offense, but pleaded guilty to the lesser firearms offense under an agreement that avoided a potential life sentence. The court further stated that his plea proceeding and evidence from the ensuing trial of other gang members compellingly established his complicity in the murder.

Third, the court rejected Beltran’s argument on the merits. It adopted the reasons in the government’s memorandum and held that murder in aid of racketeering under § 1959(a)(1) qualifies, based on its elements, as a crime of violence. The court also relied on a Second Circuit summary order involving a co-defendant in the same case, which rejected a similar argument, and stated that it could not contradict that ruling merely because it was issued as a summary order.

Disposition

The court denied Beltran’s motion for reconsideration. The Clerk was directed to terminate the motions pending at docket numbers 2464 and 2469, and the case remained closed. The court declined to issue a certificate of appealability, certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith, and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal.