Smalls v. United States
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:23-cv-00835
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
Smalls v. United States: Judge Caproni denied Leon Smalls’s sentence-challenge petition as untimely because he filed it after the one-year deadline.
Leon Smalls’s federal sentence challenge was denied because the court found it was filed after the applicable one-year deadline and that he had not shown grounds for extending that deadline.
What happened
In Smalls v. United States, Leon Smalls, representing himself, asked the court to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence under a federal law allowing such challenges. His conviction became final on September 10, 2020, because he did not appeal, making September 10, 2021, the filing deadline.
Smalls filed his petition in January 2023. He argued that COVID-19 lockdowns limited his access to prison law libraries and that he had acted diligently. The court found that these general assertions did not show specific extraordinary circumstances that prevented him from filing on time or facts proving reasonable diligence.
Judge Valerie Caproni denied the petition as untimely. She declined to issue a certificate of appealability, found that an appeal would not be taken in good faith, denied permission to proceed without paying filing fees, and directed the clerk to close the matter.
The detailed version
- Smalls v. United States · No. 1:23-cv-00835
- Valerie Caproni
- Apr. 5, 2023
Background
Leon Smalls, proceeding without a lawyer, moved under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence. The court had previously ordered him to explain why the motion should not be denied as untimely.
Smalls was convicted on August 27, 2020, of using, possessing, and brandishing a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii). Because he did not appeal, the judgment became final when the 14-day appeal period expired on September 10, 2020. Section 2255 generally required him to file within one year of that date, so the deadline was September 10, 2021. He filed the petition on January 17, 2023.
Equitable Tolling
Smalls argued that COVID-19 lockdowns at detention facilities restricted his access to law libraries and that he had acted diligently despite those restrictions. Equitable tolling is a court-created extension of a filing deadline available when extraordinary circumstances prevented a timely filing and the person acted with reasonable diligence.
The court held that Smalls’s general references to pandemic lockdowns did not identify extraordinary circumstances specific to him that prevented timely filing. It also found that his vague statement that he had acted diligently did not show that he could not have filed during the one-year limitations period. The court therefore declined to extend the deadline.
Ruling and Disposition
The court denied the petition as untimely. It declined to issue a certificate of appealability because Smalls had not made a substantial showing that a constitutional right was denied. The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying filing fees. The clerk was directed to close the open motion and the civil case and mail Smalls a copy of the order.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.