District Judge John Koeltl
Upon a guilty plea, Mateo was convicted of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. He was sentenced in 2006 to 87 months in prison and three years of supervision. In 2007 district court denied his motion under 28 USC §2255 to vacate sentence due to counsel’s ineffectiveness. The Second Circuit dismissed appeal on Aug. 15, 2008. In his May 10, 2010, sentence reduction motion, Mateo argued that the sentencing court considered neither his status as a deportable alien nor the harsher conditions of confinement that he would be subject to as compared to a non-alien. Deeming Mateo’s motion a successive petition for habeas corpus relief under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, district court transferred his motion, in the interests of justice, to the circuit pursuant to 28 USC §1631 without reaching the merits. In addition to failing to suggest an alternative basis for his motion, Mateo’s motion was his second attempt to seek habeas review. Quoting Corrao v. United States, the court observed that “reaching the merits of an uncertified second or successive §2255 petition impermissible circumvents the AEDPA’s gatekeeping provisions.”
