Andrew James Johnston v. Mark Gutierrez

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Arizona adopts a magistrate judge’s Report and Recommendation and dismisses Andrew James Johnston’s 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition with prejudice. The court rejects Johnston’s challenges to the Bureau of Prisons’ PATTERN recidivism assessment and the application of First Step Act time credits, concluding that his bank-robbery convictions were properly treated as crimes of violence and that the asserted claims did not warrant relief. The court also denies as moot his renewed motion for preliminary injunctive relief and denies his motion to strike the Report and Recommendation.

Holdings

1. The district court properly reviewed the challenged portions of the report and recommendation, found no clear error or merit in Johnston's objections, and adopted the report and recommendation.
2. Johnston failed to establish a violation of federal law warranting habeas relief, and judicial review of the BOP's discretionary recidivism-risk score was unavailable on the claim presented.
3. Johnston's convictions for bank robbery by intimidation were properly categorized as crimes of violence for purposes of the challenged PATTERN classification.
4. Johnston had no liberty interest or enforceable right to require that his earned First Step Act time credits be applied in a specific manner toward early release.
5. The magistrate judge acted within his statutory jurisdiction in issuing a report and recommendation concerning the petition and the renewed motion for injunctive relief.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the magistrate judge's report and recommendation should be adopted after review of Johnston's objections.
2. Whether the court could review the BOP's discretionary PATTERN recidivism-risk classification and related determination concerning application of First Step Act time credits under the habeas and administrative-law theories asserted by Johnston.
3. Whether Johnston's bank-robbery conviction was properly categorized as a crime of violence for purposes of the PATTERN assessment.
4. Whether the First Step Act's provisions concerning earned time credits created a liberty interest or required the BOP to apply Johnston's credits in a particular manner.
5. Whether the magistrate judge acted within his jurisdiction in issuing recommendations concerning the petition and renewed motion for injunctive relief.

Disposition

dismissed