Hernandez v. United States

Plaintiff challenged the district court's denial of her request to receive a certificate described in 28 U.S.C. 2513 from the district court that set aside the conviction. In this case, defendant was convicted of and imprisoned for various federal crimes, only to have her conviction set aside ten years later for ineffective assistance of counsel. The court held that the statute made clear, and the court's case law supported, that plaintiff must show that the district court vacated her conviction because she was not guilty—not just that the district court discussed her innocence, or even mentioned that it thought she was not guilty. Because plaintiff's conviction was set aside on procedural grounds, she failed to satisfy section 2513(a)(1). Therefore, plaintiff failed to identify any reversible error in the district court's denial of her certificate. View "Hernandez v. United States" on Justia Law