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.