Hernan O'ryan Castro v. United States (540 U.S. 375)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 15, 2003 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 540 U.S. 375 · 124 S. Ct. 786
- Decided
- December 15, 2003
- Term
- October Term 2003
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court. Under a longstanding practice, a court sometimes treats as a request for habeas relief under 28 U. S. C. § 2255 a motion that a pro se federal prisoner has labeled differently. Such recharacterization can have serious consequences for the prisoner, for it subjects any subsequent motion under § 2255 to the restrictive conditions that federal law imposes upon a “second or successive” (but not upon a first) federal habeas motion. §2255, ¶ 8. In light of these consequences, we hold that the court cannot so recharacterize a pro se litigant’s motion as the litigant’s first §2255 motion unless the court informs the litigant of its intent to recharacterize, warns the litigant that the recharacterization will subject subsequent § 2255 motions to the law’s “second or successive” restrictions, and provides the litigant with an opportunity to withdraw, or to amend, the filing. Where these things are not done, a recharacterized motion will not count as a §2255 motion for purposes of applying §2255’s “second or successive” provision. I This case focuses upon two motions that Hernán O’Ryan Castro, a federal prisoner acting pro se, filed in federal court. He filed the first motion in 1994, the second in 1997. A The relevant facts surrounding the 1994 motion are the following: (1) On July 5,1994, Castro filed a pro se motion attacking his…
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