Belle v. United States
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:23-cv-09697
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Belle v. United States, Judge Valerie Caproni ordered Wendell Belle to seek recall of an appellate mandate by June 28, 2024, or face dismissal.
Wendell Belle’s pending sentence challenge and the United States as respondent.
What happened
In Belle v. United States, Wendell Belle asked the court to cancel or correct his sentence under a federal law allowing prisoners to challenge their sentences. The court had stayed that request while requiring him to seek recall of a Second Circuit mandate.
Belle had not filed the required motion in the Second Circuit by the time of this order. Judge Caproni gave him until June 28, 2024, to file it.
Judge Valerie Caproni ordered that Belle’s sentence challenge will be dismissed if he misses that deadline. If the mandate is recalled but later review is unsuccessful, Belle must file a new sentence challenge; if recall is denied, the court will lift the stay.
The detailed version
- Belle v. United States · No. 1:23-cv-09697
- Valerie Caproni
- Mar. 25, 2024
Background
Wendell Belle filed a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 asking the court to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence. The court initially ordered the motion not to be summarily dismissed and directed the United States to respond. The United States responded and asked the court to stay consideration of the motion, and the court stayed it.
The court then ordered Belle to file a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit seeking recall of the mandate issued on September 9, 2022. The order referred to procedures described in Taylor v. United States. Belle had not filed that motion by the date of this order.
Order
The court ordered that Belle’s § 2255 motion will be dismissed if he does not file the motion to recall the mandate in the Second Circuit by June 28, 2024.
The court further ordered that, if the motion to recall the mandate is granted but Belle’s request for rehearing and/or review by the Supreme Court is unsuccessful, he will need to file a new motion under § 2255. If the motion to recall the mandate is denied, the court will lift the stay on Belle’s existing § 2255 motion.
The order did not decide the merits of Belle’s challenge to his sentence. The clerk was directed to mail a copy of the order to Belle.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.