Exoneration projects prove our justice system has an epidemic of bad prosecutors. So the POS responsible for my illegal conviction is not a minority, but perhaps the majority.
Regardless, the Eighth Circuit rejected my petition (26-1808). I’m sending a “Motion for Clarification” today, but they’ll probably ignore it. So I feel that I should NOW explain why §2255(h)(1) is deeply unconstitutional.
FYI, a §2255 petition is one of the last ways a federally convicted person (like myself) can ask a court to fix a wrongful conviction. But since I have already filed a §2255, the rules for a second petition become much harder thanks to AEDPA. Under §2255(h)(1), I have to prove that I’ve obtained “new evidence” that proves that no reasonable person could still vote to convict me.
That sounds fair in theory, but in real life scenarios (like mine) it can become a HUGE unconstitutional obstacle. If (as in my case) the government hid evidence and someone (like me) only later got access to records that prove the case was built on lies (which I have done), the court can still refuse to grant the petition. Thus, I end up in a “procedural trap” because the evidence came too late, even though it proves my conviction was wrongfully obtained.
In other words, §2255 cares more about finality than truth. That means that even though I have irrefutable proof of serious wrongdoing, I still may not get a real chance at exoneration. If you’re a normal person -outside our corrupt judicial system- that is obviously ridiculously unfair.
So, at this point, my hopes rest in the WDNY court doing the right thing and un-redacting the email in Exhibit H. Since the 8th Circuit doesn’t have to tell me why they rejected my petition (thus my motion for clarification), I have to speculate. I’ve determined (with the help of AI and AUSA Tessie Smith’s perjurious response) that they justified the denial on their opinion that: “the petitioner relies on redacted FOIA documents (e.g Exhibit H) to allege unconstitutional collusion between the government and his defense team. Speculation regarding what the un-redacted documents might contain does not meet the clear and convincing evidence standard required to overcome the government’s presumption of regularity. Furthermore, allegations of attorney collusion must be proven concretely. Therefore, this Court will not overturn a conviction based on documentary inferences; the petitioner must prove the collusion through concrete evidence and the redacted documents do not meet this standard.”
If this makes you say “this shit is crazy!”, you are a sane person. The government has redacted the information that will get my case overturned. Talk about a conflict of interest! Speaking of conflicts of interests, would you be surprised to learn that Jospeh Leo Howard is in possession of an unreacted copy of Exhibit H? You shouldn’t be because he has (as documented on this blog) refused to supply a single page from my case file AND the Nebraska Counsel for Discipline has also failed to provide me with any acknowledgment of my complaint against him for not providing me with my case file. You should also not be surprised that my case file also contains emails from me to him on July 30, 2015 ordering him to prepare for trial. Proving that he went behind my back to negotiated a conditional plea with POS Becker without my permission. Worse, an email I got from the public defenders office proves that Howard and my public defender (who I trusted in 2015) conspired on July 30, 2015 to coerce me into taking that unauthorized conditional plea.
Howard is also in possession of emails (starting on August 4, 2015) proving that I wanted him to file paperwork to withdraw my plea. Howard ignored my requests from August until November, when he negotiated with POS Becker to do a “reverse proffer” to convince me not to withdraw my plea. When I arrived for the proffer, Joe thanked him for doing it and Becker replied “Sure, we have nothing to hide” That is when I knew Becker was lying. I just glowered at Becker during the proffer, Joe was like “could you try to hide your disdain for him a little?” I said “NO!” But after the proffer, Howard still refused to file the paperwork to withdraw the plea and only did so after I wrote the judge indicating that I didn’t trust Howard or POS Becker.
As this blog documents, during my incarceration in 2016 to 2018 I realized that I had been railroaded. Joe refused to provide me with my case file while incarcerated because it was “sealed” and I’m pretty sure he didn’t give Megan the whole file (but I’ve written that her former firm is also uncooperative). HUGE SIGH! Anyway, the bottom line is that I need un-redacted exhibits to win.