Habeas Petition- “Saving Clause”

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: DeAngelo Sanders v. M. Joseph

Case No.: 19-2504                     

Officials: Sykes, Chief Judge, and Hamilton and Scudder, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Habeas Petition- “Saving Clause”

Sanders, who was convicted in 2006 for firearms offenses, received an extended sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act due to three previous convictions, one of which was for Illinois residential burglary. Despite unsuccessful attempts at a direct appeal and a 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion for collateral relief, Sanders sought permission three times to file a successive 2255 motion, but his requests were denied. A successive motion is only allowed if it presents “newly discovered evidence” of innocence or is based on a “new rule of constitutional law” retroactively applicable to cases under review by the Supreme Court.

In an effort to challenge his sentence, Sanders submitted a 28 U.S.C. 2241 habeas petition, invoking the “saving clause.” According to the “saving clause” provision in 28 U.S.C. 2255(e), a federal prisoner’s 2241 motion will only be considered if the remedy through a 2255 motion is “inadequate or ineffective” to assess the legality of their detention. Precedent in the Seventh Circuit, specifically the Davenport case, applied the “saving clause” as a gateway for habeas claims based on a new interpretation of a criminal statute previously barred by circuit precedent. In Sanders’s case, his Davenport claim challenged his ACCA-enhanced sentence in light of the Supreme Court’s Mathis decision in 2016.

However, the district judge denied relief, and the Supreme Court ruling in Jones v. Hendrix (2022) clarified that the inability of a prisoner with a statutory claim to meet the conditions of 2255 does not grant them the ability to pursue their claim through a habeas petition under the “saving clause.” Instead, it means that the claim cannot be pursued at all. The Seventh Circuit upheld the denial of relief and abolished the Davenport precedent.

Affirmed.

Decided 07/07/23

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