El-Hage v. United States

Background

Wadih El-Hage was convicted after a jury trial of conspiracy to murder United States nationals, conspiracy to murder United States officers and employees, conspiracy to damage or destroy United States property, and multiple counts of making false statements to a federal grand jury concerning his knowledge of and association with al Qaeda and its leaders and members. The Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions but ordered resentencing. On remand, the district court imposed life imprisonment on the first and third counts, twenty years’ imprisonment on the property-destruction count, and five years’ imprisonment on each false-statement count, with the sentences running concurrently. The Court of Appeals later affirmed that sentence.

In April 2016, El-Hage filed a motion for relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. The district court denied that motion on the merits. On June 8, 2020, he filed another § 2255 motion, ostensibly based on United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 (2019).

Analysis

A federal prisoner generally may not file a “second or successive” § 2255 motion challenging the same judgment unless the Court of Appeals first authorizes the filing. The court concluded that El-Hage’s new motion challenged the same judgment involved in his earlier § 2255 proceeding. It therefore determined that the motion was second or successive and that the district court lacked authority to address it without permission from the Court of Appeals.

Disposition

Following the procedure established by the Court of Appeals, the district court ordered the Clerk to transfer the application and the order to the Court of Appeals. The Clerk was also directed to mail El-Hage a copy of the order. The opinion does not state that the district court ruled on the merits of the new § 2255 arguments.