Third Circuit Dismisses Claim of Legal Innocence Under Jones v. Hendrix

In Voneida v. Johnson, ---F. 4th---, 2023 WL 8462455 (3d Cir. Dec. 7, 2023), the Third Circuit dismissed a postconviction claim of legal innocence for lack of jurisdiction under Jones v. Hendrix, 599 U.S. 465 (2023).  The petitioner, Steven Voneida, was convicted of transmitting threats in interstate commerce, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), in 2008.  In 2015, Mr. Voneida filed a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 arguing that his conviction was no longer valid because it relied on an interpretation of the threats statute the Supreme Court rejected in Elonis v. United States, 575 U.S. 723 (2015).  In so doing, Mr. Voneida relied on the Third Circuit's decision in In re Dorsainvil, 119 F.3d 245 (3d Cir. 1997), which held that the "savings clause" in 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e) allows petitioners to raise claims of legal innocence through § 2241 when § 2255 proves inadequate due to its restriction on second-or-successive petitions.

In Jones, however, the Supreme Court held that the bar on second-or-successive petitions does not render § 2255 "inadequate" and thereby allow petitioners to raise claims of legal innocence under § 2241.  As a result, in Voneida, the Third Circuit held that Jones officially abrogated In re Dorsainvil and closed the avenue to relief that case had opened.  The Court therefore ordered that Mr. Voneida's petition be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

A copy of the opinion is available at: https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/221264p.pdf.