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United States v. Hicks, Eric A.

Court: Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Date filed: 2002-03-26
Citations: 283 F.3d 380, 350 U.S. App. D.C. 279
Copy Citations
114 Citing Cases
Combined Opinion
                  United States Court of Appeals

               FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

       Argued February 1, 2002     Decided March 26, 2002 

                           No. 01-3040

                    United States of America, 
                             Appellee

                                v.

                 Eric A. Hicks, a/k/a Fat Eric, 
                            Appellant

          Appeal from the United States District Court 
                  for the District of Columbia 
                        (No. 93cr00097-02)

     Mary Manning Petras, appointed by the court, argued the 
cause and filed the briefs for appellant.

     Valinda Jones, Assistant United States Attorney, argued 
the cause for appellee. With her on the brief were Roscoe C. 
Howard, Jr., United States Attorney, and John R. Fisher, 
Assistant United States Attorney.  Mary-Patrice Brown, As-
sistant United States Attorney, entered an appearance.

     Before:  Ginsburg, Chief Judge, Edwards and Sentelle, 
Circuit Judges.

     Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge Edwards.

     Edwards, Circuit Judge:  Eric Hicks received a Certificate 
of Appealability ("COA") to challenge a District Court deci-
sion striking his motion to supplement an application for 
collateral relief under 28 U.S.C. s 2255.  After being convict-
ed in federal court on various drug distribution and conspira-
cy offenses, Hicks filed a s 2255 motion claiming that, by 
offering leniency to some of its witnesses in exchange for 
their testimony, the Government had tainted his trial and 
made his continued incarceration unlawful.  While this motion 
was still pending before the District Court, the Supreme 
Court decided Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000).  
Hicks believed that the Court's decision offered him another 
possible avenue of relief, so he sought to supplement his 
s 2255 application with an Apprendi claim.  He failed, howev-
er, to submit this claim until after the trial court had denied 
his original motion.  Hicks' proposed supplement was there-
fore stricken as untimely.

     Hicks then asked the District Court to reconsider its 
decision.  It did so, but only to strike the supplementary 
pleading again, this time on a different ground:  because it did 
not "relate back" to Hicks' original s 2255 motion.  See 
United States v. Hicks, Order, Crim. No. 93-0097-02 (Feb. 
22, 2001) ("Reconsideration Order"), reprinted in Record 
Material for Appellee ("RMA")-J. This ruling formed the 
basis for Hicks' COA and, accordingly, it is this ruling that is 
at issue here.  Hicks' challenge, however, fails.

     Hicks did not file his Apprendi motion until more than a 
year after his criminal conviction became final.  Therefore, 
that motion is barred by s 2255's one-year "period of limita-
tion" unless, under Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil 
Procedure, it can be said to "relate back" to the date on which 
Hicks' original (and timely) application for relief was filed.  
Rule 15 prescribes how civil pleadings may be amended and 
supplemented, and it applies to s 2255 proceedings.  Hicks' 
amendment is better classified as an "amendment" under 

15(a) than as a "supplemental pleading" under 15(d).  In 
either event, however, it does not meet the standards for 
"relation back" to his original application for relief.  Hicks' 
attempt to amend his s 2255 motion raised an entirely new 
legal claim arising from a new set of facts;  therefore, his 
application was untimely unless it independently satisfied the 
statute's one-year limitations period.  It did not, and there-
fore was properly disallowed.

                          I. Background

     Hicks, a member of the notorious "First Street Crew," was 
convicted in February 1994 on an assortment of drug distri-
bution and criminal conspiracy charges.  He was sentenced to 
two life terms, along with two terms of 240 months and one of 
480 months, all to run concurrently.  His direct appeal, 
challenging both his conviction and his sentence, was rejected 
by this court.  See United States v. White, 116 F.3d 903 (D.C. 
Cir. 1997).  Hicks' conviction was final on November 3, 1997, 
when the Supreme Court denied his petition for a writ of 
certiorari.  See Hicks v. United States, 522 U.S. 960 (1997).  
On November 2, 1998, the day on which the one-year statute 
of limitations on motions for collateral relief was to expire, 
Hicks filed such a motion under s 2255.

     An application for relief under s 2255 is properly termed a 
"motion," rather than a "petition," the term used in habeas 
corpus proceedings challenging state court criminal judg-
ments under 28 U.S.C. s 2254.  See Advisory Committee 
Notes to Rule 1 of the Rules Governing Section 2255 Proceed-
ings For the United States District Courts.  In his motion, 
Hicks relied on United States v. Singleton, 144 F.3d 1343 
(10th Cir. 1998), rev'd, 165 F.3d 1297 (10th Cir. 1999) (en 
banc), to argue that the Government violated 18 U.S.C. 
s 201(c)(2) by promising leniency to its witnesses in exchange 
for their trial testimony.  Hicks also adopted any arguments 
advanced in the s 2255 motions of his co-defendants, Antone 
White and Ronald Hughes, insofar as those arguments were 
applicable to him.

     Whatever arguable merit Hicks' s 201(c)(2) claim had when 
he originally made it was obviated by this court's decision in 
United States v. Ramsey, 165 F.3d 980, 986-91 (D.C. Cir. 
1999).  Hicks' motion nevertheless languished in the District 
Court;  indeed, the Government did not even file an opposi-
tion to the motion until February 1, 2000.  On June 26, 2000, 
while Hicks' motion was still pending, the Supreme Court 
issued its decision in Apprendi.  The Court held that any fact 
other than a prior conviction that increases the penalty for an 
offense beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be 
submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.  
530 U.S. at 490.

     On November 6, 2000, the District Court ruled on, and 
denied, Hicks' original application for collateral relief.  The 
court rejected Hicks' s 201(c)(2) argument on the strength of 
Ramsey, and held that neither of the "incorporated" claims 
advanced by Hicks' co-defendants offered him any basis for 
relief.  See United States v. Hicks, Memorandum Order 
(Nov. 6, 2000), reprinted in RMA-F.

     A week later, on November 13, 2000, Hicks filed a new 
motion, contending that Apprendi applied to his case, because 
the drug quantities on which his sentence was based had not 
been found by his jury but rather by the trial judge.  This 
new motion was presented as a supplement to Hicks' s 2255 
motion that had been denied a week earlier.

     On November 28, 2000, the District Court struck Hicks' 
Apprendi motion.  The trial court held that there was noth-
ing to supplement, because the original s 2255 motion had 
been denied.  The trial court instructed Hicks that, if he 
wished to press his Apprendi argument, he would have to file 
a "second or successive motion," one subject to the strict 
gatekeeping rules imposed by s 2255.  See Hicks v. United 
States, Order (Nov. 28, 2000) ("Order Striking Supplement"), 
reprinted in RMA-H.  Rather than do so, however, Hicks 
urged the District Court to reconsider its decision.  Hicks 
argued that his Apprendi claim should be addressed, because 
Hughes, whose s 2255 arguments Hicks had incorporated, 
had added such a claim to his own motion before the trial 

judge denied the one made by Hicks.  Hicks also asserted 
that his attorney never received a copy of the court's Novem-
ber 6 Order, and, therefore, did not know that her client's 
original application had been denied when she filed the later 
motion on November 13.

     On February 22, 2001, the District Court accepted Hicks' 
request for reconsideration.  At the same time, however, the 
court once again decided to strike the Apprendi motion.  In 
the decision denying Hicks' request for relief, the District 
Court rested primarily on Rule 15(c) of the Federal Rules of 
Civil Procedure, and concluded that any claim filed after 
February 1, 2000, when the Government responded on the 
merits to Hicks' s 2255 motion, "had to relate back to the 
original petition."  The District Court then held that the 
Apprendi claim could only be presented in a separate motion, 
because it did not relate back to the original motion.  See 
Reconsideration Order, RMA-J.

     Following the District Court's rejection of his request for 
relief, Hicks sought a COA on the grounds that the District 
Court had confused Rule 15(d), which covers supplements, 
with Rule 15(a), which concerns amendments.  Alternatively, 
he argued that his Apprendi claim did sufficiently relate back 
to his original motion, because both grew out of the same 
criminal conviction and sentence.  On April 10, 2001, the 
District Court judge granted Hicks' motion for a COA on the 
question of "whether an amendment to a Section 2255 petition 
is supplemental under Rule 15(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil 
Procedure."  United States v. Hicks, Order (April 10, 2001), 
reprinted in RMA-L. Hicks now pursues that issue in this 
court.

                          II. Discussion

     While the COA that serves as the basis for this appeal is 
hardly a model of clarity, it does invite us to consider the 
circumstances under which a s 2255 applicant may amend or 
supplement his original motion in an attempt to raise new 
claims or clarify existing ones.  We must therefore consider 
the intersection of Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil 

Procedure and 28 U.S.C. s 2255, and, in particular, the strict 
time limits that Congress has placed on prisoners seeking 
collateral relief.

A.   The Distinction Between Amendments and Supple-
     mental Pleadings under Rule 15

     The first issue that we must resolve is whether Hicks' 
Apprendi motion is an "amendment" under Rule 15(a) or a 
"supplemental pleading" under Rule 15(d).  Both Hicks and 
the Government have assumed the motion to be supplementa-
ry.  We disagree.

     It is true that these labels are often confused in practice 
and that the distinction is in most instances of little moment.  
There are, however, at least two ways in which the nomencla-
ture might matter.  First, while a party may freely offer an 
amendment at any time before a responsive pleading is 
served, supplements always require leave of the court.  See 
6A Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal 
Practice and Procedure s 1504, at 186 (2d ed. 1990) ("Wright 
& Miller");  Young-Henderson v. Spartanburg Area Mental 
Health Center, 945 F.2d 770, 775 (4th Cir. 1991).  Second, 
while it is clear that the relation back of an amendment to the 
filing date of the original pleading is governed by the terms of 
Rule 15(c), the circumstances under which supplements may 
relate back have not been codified.  See Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(d) 
advisory committee notes (1963 Amendment) (indicating that 
this issue was left "for decision in accordance with the 
principles applicable to supplemental pleading generally");  
6A Wright & Miller s 1508, at 200 ("Neither the federal 
rules nor the case law indicates whether or under what 
circumstances a supplemental pleading will relate back to the 
date of the original pleading to avoid the effect of the 
governing statute of limitations.").

     This said, we acknowledge that courts often simply apply 
the principles of 15(c) to supplemental pleadings.  See, e.g., 
FDIC v. Knostman, 966 F.2d 1133, 1138-39 (7th Cir. 1992);  
Davis v. Piper Aircraft Corp., 615 F.2d 606, 609 n.3 (4th Cir. 
1980);  cf. 6A Wright & Miller s 1508, at 201-02 (endorsing 
this approach on the ground that, "if [a party] is given 

sufficient notice of the nature of the claim being asserted at 
the outset of the action, the policy underlying the statute of 
limitations is in no way compromised by allowing a supple-
mental pleading to relate back").

     Nevertheless, insofar as the difference may be meaningful, 
we believe that Hicks' motion seeking to add an Apprendi 
claim to his pending s 2255 request is better understood as 
an amendment than as a supplemental pleading.  The distin-
guishing feature of the latter is that it sets forth "transactions 
or occurrences or events which have happened since the date 
of the pleading sought to be supplemented."  Fed. R. Civ. P. 
15(d);  see also, e.g., Weeks v. New York State (Div. Of 
Parole), 273 F.3d 76, 88 (2d Cir. 2001) (noting that supple-
mental pleadings relate to events that "have transpired since 
the date of the party's most recent pleading").  Supplements 
therefore contrast with amendments, which typically rest on 
matters in place prior to the filing of the original pleading.  
See 6A Wright & Miller s 1504, at 184.

     The question in this case is whether intervening judicial 
decisions are the sort of "occurrences or events" to which 
Rule 15(d) refers.  We think not.  The purposes to which the 
rule is typically put support the conclusion that the appropri-
ate bases for supplemental pleadings are new facts bearing on 
the relationship between the parties, rather than merely 
changes in the law governing those facts.  See id. s 1504, at 
177-83 (Rule 15(d) is used to set forth new facts that update 
the original pleading or provide the basis for additional relief;  
to put forward new claims or defenses based on events that 
took place after the original complaint or answer was filed;  to 
include new parties where subsequent events have made it 
necessary to do so);  see also, e.g., Gillihan v. Shillinger, 872 
F.2d 935, 941 (10th Cir. 1989) ("The supplement concerned 
events which took place after he filed the complaint, to wit:  
defendants went beyond freezing plaintiff's account and re-
moved funds therefrom ...").

     Accordingly, given that none of the factual occurrences set 
forth in Hicks' Apprendi motion - in particular, the Govern-
ment's failure to submit drug quantities to the jury - took 

place after he filed his initial s 2255 application, we hold that 
Rule 15(d) is not implicated.  The only effect of Apprendi 
itself was to alter the legal significance of these prior events.  
Although Hicks' motion surely invoked that case, its true 
focus was on the old facts that the Supreme Court's decision 
had suddenly made more relevant.  And because those mat-
ters had already transpired at the time of his original motion, 
Hicks' subsequent motion was merely an attempt to "amend" 
his original motion.  See 6 Wright & Miller s 1473, at 520 
(suggesting that the function of amendments under Rule 15(a) 
is to allow a party "to assert matters that were overlooked or 
were unknown at the time he interposed the original [mo-
tion]").

B.   The Application of Rule 15 in s 2255 Proceedings

     Because the District Court apparently abandoned its origi-
nal basis for refusing to consider Hicks' amendment - i.e., 
that his original s 2255 motion had been dismissed - we do 
not review that reasoning here.  Instead, in its Reconsidera-
tion Order, the District Court rejected the amendment be-
cause it did not "relate back to the original petition," a 
determination that requires us to consider when amendments 
to s 2255 motions are permitted, and how such amendments 
interact with the statute of limitations that Congress has 
imposed on motions for collateral relief.

     Under Rule 12 of the Rules Governing Section 2255 Pro-
ceedings, in the absence of a procedure specified either in the 
rules or in the statute, a district court "may apply the 
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure or the Federal Rules of 
Civil Procedure, whichever it deems most appropriate, to 
motions filed under these rules."  While both s 2255 and its 
governing rules are silent as to amendments, 28 U.S.C. 
s 2242 provides that an application for a writ of habeas 
corpus "may be amended or supplemented as provided in the 
rules of procedure applicable to civil actions."  We hold, in 
agreement with all of the other circuits that have considered 
the issue, that this principle applies to s 2255 proceedings as 
well, and, therefore, that such motions may be amended 
under the terms set by Rule 15(a).  See United States v. 

Saenz, __ F.3d __, 2002 WL 206340, at *2 (5th Cir. Feb. 11, 
2002);  United States v. Pittman, 209 F.3d 314, 317 (4th Cir. 
2000);  United States v. Duffus, 174 F.3d 333, 336-37 (3d Cir. 
1999);  cf. Fama v. Comm'r of Correctional Servs., 235 F.3d 
804, 815-16 (2d Cir. 2000) (holding that ss 2254 and 2255 
should be construed in pari materia with respect to "the 
timeliness of motions for leave to amend").  Accordingly, the 
"permissive approach" evinced by Rule 15(a) to the amend-
ment of pleadings applies with equal force to s 2255 motions.  
United States v. Thomas, 221 F.3d 430, 435-36 (3d Cir. 2000);  
cf. 6 Wright & Miller s 1471, at 505-06 (observing that the 
purpose of 15(a) "is to provide maximum opportunity for each 
claim to be decided on its merits rather than on procedural 
technicalities").

     That said, however, it does not follow that the District 
Court erred in striking Hicks' amendment.  When Congress 
enacted the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 
1996 ("AEDPA"), Pub. L. No. 104-132 s 105, 110 Stat. 1214 
(Apr. 24, 1996), it imposed a one-year "period of limitation" on 
all motions made under s 2255.  That period begins to run on 
"the date on which the judgment of conviction becomes final."  
28 U.S.C. s 2255(1).  Although the statute does not define 
when finality occurs, our sister circuits have uniformly con-
cluded that, if a prisoner petitions for certiorari, the contested 
conviction becomes final when the Supreme Court either 
denies the writ or issues a decision on the merits.  See 
Washington v. United States, 243 F.3d 1299, 1300-01 (11th 
Cir. 2001) (citing cases).  If no petition is filed, most courts 
have held that the clock begins to run when the 90-day period 
for seeking certiorari expires.  See Kaufmann v. United 
States, __ F.3d __, 2002 WL 246563, at *2 (11th Cir. Feb. 21, 
2002) (so holding, and in the process siding with the Third, 
Fifth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits and rejecting the contrary 
conclusion of the Fourth and Seventh Circuits that the period 
begins with the issuance of the mandate by the Court of 
Appeals).  Because Hicks did seek certiorari after losing his 
direct appeal, his conviction became final when that petition 
was denied on November 3, 1997.

     While his original s 2255 motion came within the limitation 
period, filed as it was on November 2, 1998, Hicks did not 
offer his subsequent Apprendi motion until November 13, 
2000.  That amendment was therefore time-barred, and prop-
erly struck by the District Court, unless it was subsumed by 
the timely first motion pursuant to the "relation back" doc-
trine.  While s 2255 and its governing rules say nothing 
about relation back, that doctrine is well-established in ordi-
nary civil procedure, through Rule 15(c).  The rule provides 
that, under certain circumstances, an amendment of a plead-
ing relates back to the date of the original pleading, thereby 
avoiding statute of limitations problems that otherwise might 
have beset the amendment.  See 6A Wright & Miller 
s 1496, at 64;  Singletary v. Pennsylvania Dep't of Correc-
tions, 266 F.3d 186, 193 (3d Cir. 2001) ("Rule 15(c) can 
ameliorate the running of the statute of limitations on a claim 
by making the amended claim relate back to the original, 
timely filed complaint.").

     Our sister circuits agree that the basic principles of Rule 
15(c) apply to amendments of s 2255 motions.  See United 
States v. Espinoza-Saenz, 235 F.3d 501, 503-05 (10th Cir. 
2000);  Davenport v. United States, 217 F.3d 1341, 1344-46 
(11th Cir. 2000);  Pittman, 209 F.3d at 317;  United States v. 
Craycraft, 167 F.3d 451, 457 (8th Cir. 1999).  They have thus 
rejected the argument that the legal changes imposed by 
AEDPA preclude the relation back of amendments that oth-
erwise would be time-barred.  See Anthony v. Cambra, 236 
F.3d 568, 576-78 (9th Cir. 2000);  Fama, 235 F.3d at 815-16;  
Thomas, 221 F.3d at 434-37.  Section 2255's "period of limita-
tion" is a statute of limitations like any other, and like any 
other is subject to the principles of relation back.  Cf. Dunlap 
v. United States, 250 F.3d 1001, 1004 & n.1 (6th Cir. 2001) 
(joining every other circuit to have considered the question in 
holding that "the one-year limitation period under s 2255 (or 
s 2244) is a statute of limitations, subject to the doctrine of 
equitable tolling, rather than a jurisdictional requirement").  
At least in this respect, then, prisoners seeking collateral 
relief stand on an equal footing with ordinary civil claimants.

     This, however, does not mean that Hicks' amendment may 
avail itself of the filing date of his original s 2255 motion.  
Under Rule 15(c)(2), an amendment is permitted to relate 
back only when "the claim or defense asserted in the amend-
ed pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occur-
rence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original 
pleading."  Accordingly, while amendments that expand upon 
or clarify facts previously alleged will typically relate back, 
those that significantly alter the nature of a proceeding by 
injecting new and unanticipated claims are treated far more 
cautiously.  See 6A Wright & Miller s 1497, at 84;  Bowles 
v. Reade, 198 F.3d 752, 762 (9th Cir. 1999) ("If the amended 
complaint alleged a new claim for relief that arose out of 
different conduct or transactions it would not relate back to 
the original complaint.");  FDIC v. Conner, 20 F.3d 1376, 
1385-86 (5th Cir. 1994).

     In the context of s 2255 amendments, the courts have 
taken a relatively consistent approach to relation back.  Al-
though Rule 15(c) could be read to mean that the relevant 
"occurrence" is the claimant's trial and sentencing, this inter-
pretation has been resisted, and with good reason.  In most 
cases, a prisoner's claims for collateral relief will arise out of 
the same criminal conviction;  therefore, if the defendant's 
trial and sentencing are construed to be the "occurrence," 
virtually any purported amendment will relate back.  Such a 
result would be difficult to square with Congress' decision to 
expedite collateral attacks by placing stringent time restric-
tions on s 2255 motions.  See Espinoza-Saenz, 235 F.3d at 
505;  Davenport, 217 F.3d at 1345-46;  Pittman, 209 F.3d at 
318.

     Therefore, like our sister circuits, we agree that Rule 15(c) 
does not apply where the prisoner's proposed amendment 
makes claims or is based on occurrences "totally separate and 
distinct, 'in both time and type' from those raised in his 
original motion."  Espinoza-Saenz, 235 F.3d at 505 (quoting 
Craycraft, 167 F.3d at 457);  see also Davenport, 217 F.3d at 
1344 (suggesting that, in order to relate back, an untimely 
claim must have arisen from the "same set of facts" as the 
timely claim).  In such circumstances, the Government would 

be deprived of "sufficient notice of the facts and claims giving 
rise to the proposed amendment," thus subverting the central 
policy of the relation-back doctrine.  Anthony, 236 F.3d at 
576.

     In contrast, in cases in which such notice has been afforded, 
for example where the prisoner's amendment seeks merely to 
elaborate upon his earlier claims, this effort should not gener-
ally be barred by the statute of limitations.  See Dean v. 
United States, 278 F.3d 1218, 1222 (11th Cir. 2002) ("When 
the nature of the amended claim supports specifically the 
original claim, the facts there alleged implicate the original 
claim, even if the original claim contained insufficient facts to 
support it.  One purpose of an amended claim is to fill in facts 
missing from the original claim.");  Duffus, 174 F.3d at 337 
("Certainly the court could have permitted an amendment to 
clarify a claim initially made.").

     Thus, while an amendment offered for the purpose of 
adding to or amplifying the facts already alleged in support of 
a particular claim may relate back, see Thomas, 221 F.3d at 
436 (observing that an amendment seeking "to correct a 
pleading deficiency by expanding the facts but not the claims 
alleged in the petition" would clearly fall within Rule 15(c)), 
one that attempts to introduce a new legal theory based on 
facts different from those underlying the timely claims may 
not, see Dean, 278 F.3d at 1221 ("Congress did not intend 
Rule 15(c) to be so broad as to allow an amended pleading to 
add an entirely new claim based on a different set of facts.").  
These principles are faithful both to the underlying purposes 
of Rule 15(c) and to the concerns about drawn-out and 
unlimited collateral attacks on federal criminal judgments 
evinced by the passage of AEDPA.  They ensure that rela-
tion back will be allowed only where the original motion 
provides adequate notice of the prisoner's claims and the 
proposed amendment would neither change the fundamental 
nature of those claims nor prejudice the Government's de-
fense by requiring it to prepare its case anew.  See 6A 
Wright & Miller s 1497, at 84-85.

     Applying the foregoing analysis to the present case, we 
have little trouble concluding that Hicks' Apprendi motion 
cannot be allowed to relate back.  The claim raised by this 
amendment is completely different from that asserted in the 
original s 2255 motion.  The amendment advances an entire-
ly new legal theory that arises from an entirely different set 
of facts and type of conduct - the Government's failure to 
prove the quantity of drugs at trial - than did the timely 
motion, which was based on the Government's willingness to 
grant leniency in exchange for testimony.  Therefore, Rule 
15(c) does not permit Hicks' amendment to take shelter in the 
filing date of his initial application for collateral relief.  And 
because that subsequent motion was made more than a year 
after the prisoner's conviction became final, it is time-barred.

     It is true of course that s 2255's period of limitation has an 
alternative trigger:  "the date on which the right asserted was 
initially recognized by the Supreme Court, if that right has 
been newly recognized by the Supreme Court and made 
retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review."  28 
U.S.C. s 2255(3).  Hicks, however, has nowhere asserted this 
as a basis for the timeliness of his motion.  Thus, the issue of 
whether Apprendi applies retroactively under the rules enun-
ciated in Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288 (1989), is not properly 
before us.  Moreover, it is not even clear that s 2255(3) 
confers the power on a circuit court to make a right retroac-
tive where the Supreme Court has not yet done so itself.  See 
Pryor v. United States, 278 F.3d 612, 615-16 (6th Cir. 2002) 
(noting the various positions staked out by the circuits on this 
issue).

     Finally, we note that the four circuits that have directly 
confronted the question have all concluded that Apprendi 
does not apply retroactively.  See McCoy v. United States, 
266 F.3d 1245, 1258 (11th Cir. 2001);  United States v. Moss, 
252 F.3d 993, 1001 (8th Cir. 2001);  United States v. Sanders, 
247 F.3d 139, 151 (4th Cir. 2001);  Jones v. Smith, 231 F.3d 
1227, 1238 (9th Cir. 2000).  No court of appeals has held 
otherwise, although some circuit judges and district courts 
have articulated reasons why one might do so.  See United 
States v. Clark, 260 F.3d 382, 383-89 (5th Cir. 2001) (Parker, 

J., dissenting);  United States v. Shark, 158 F. Supp.2d 43, 62-
64 (D.D.C. 2001);  United States v. Hernandez, 137 
F. Supp.2d 919, 927-32 (N.D. Ohio 2001).  This court has yet 
to consider the issue, and we need not do so here.

                         III. Conclusion

     For the reasons given above, we hold that the District 
Court properly struck Hicks' November 13, 2000 amendment.  
Because that amendment was filed more than a year after 
Hicks' conviction became final, and cannot be deemed to 
relate back to the filing date of his original s 2255 motion, it 
was untimely.  If Hicks seeks to pursue a new collateral 
attack on his sentence, he must do so by presenting a "second 
or successive motion" subject to AEDPA's gatekeeping rules.

                                                                 It is so ordered.