United States v. Horace Henry Mathews

Horace Henry Mathews filed a motion to vacate and set aside his sentence under Fed.R.Crim.P. 35(a). The district court treated the matter as a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 and denied it.

On appeal, Mathews challenges the district court’s subject matter jurisdiction; he contends that his guilty plea to a federal charge does not conclusively establish jurisdiction. Mathews also contends that the district court erred in dismissing the motion to set aside his sentence as a successive motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 . He seeks an order remanding the case for an evidentiary hearing on the jurisdictional issue. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

The procedural history of this case is. complex. It involves numerous recantations, appeals, and collateral attacks. The following events are relevant to this appeal.

On January 11, 1973, a grand jury indicted Mathews for kidnapping under 18 U.S.C. § 1201 . The indictment charged that Mathews had “knowingly transported] in interstate commerce from Portland, Oregon ... to Tacoma, Washington” one Paul Mann, a young boy whom Mathews had kidnapped.

Mathews pleaded guilty to this charge on January 31, 1973, stating that he had killed the victim in Washington.…