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Criminal Center is a boutique federal criminal defense firm. We take on a limited number of cases at a time, so each one gets close, personal attention. We handle federal cases nationwide, and only federal cases. We run 2255motion.com to explain § 2255 motions — requests asking the federal judge who sentenced someone to throw out or fix the conviction or sentence — in plain terms.
Our only office is a virtual office in Washington, DC: Criminal Center, 1701 Pennsylvania Ave NW # 200, Washington, DC 20006. Email help@criminalcenter.com.
Brandon Sample is licensed in Vermont and practices federal criminal law nationwide.
Who is the attorney?
Brandon Sample, Esq.
Brandon Sample is a federal criminal defense attorney and the co-author of The Habeas Citebook: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel. He is licensed in Vermont and practices federal criminal law nationwide, with years of hands-on experience in federal courts.
What a § 2255 motion challenges
A motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 asks the federal judge who imposed the sentence to vacate, set aside, or correct it. Section 2255(a) lists four grounds: the sentence violated the Constitution or laws of the United States, the court lacked jurisdiction to impose it, the sentence exceeded the maximum authorized by law, or the sentence is otherwise subject to collateral attack. A collateral attack is a separate challenge after the conviction is final, not the direct appeal.
An appeal reviews the existing record, and a defendant’s notice of appeal is generally due 14 days after judgment. Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(A). A § 2255 motion is filed in the sentencing court and can use facts that were not in that record, which is why claims about a defense lawyer’s work usually belong there. Massaro v. United States, 538 U.S. 500 (2003). A claim that could have been raised on appeal, and was not, is often defaulted unless you can show cause and prejudice. See procedural default. Rule 2(b) of the Rules Governing Section 2255 Proceedings requires every ground, the facts for each one, and the relief requested. Most people get one full motion. 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h). If the court grants relief, § 2255(b) says it shall vacate the judgment and discharge the person, resentence, grant a new trial, or correct the sentence, as may appear appropriate. Read what a § 2255 motion can challenge and how the motion is filed.
Custody and the one-year deadline
Only a person “in custody” under the sentence may file. 28 U.S.C. § 2255(a). Prison counts, and so do supervised release, probation, and parole. Jones v. Cunningham, 371 U.S. 236 (1963). When the whole sentence is over, including supervised release, § 2255 is generally unavailable. A rare writ of coram nobis may be what is left. Our page on the in-custody rule covers consecutive sentences as well. Being in custody does not make a motion timely.
The motion is generally due within one year. 28 U.S.C. § 2255(f). For most people the year starts when the conviction becomes final: when the 14-day time to appeal runs out, or, after an appeal with no petition to the Supreme Court, usually 90 days after the court of appeals enters judgment. Clay v. United States, 537 U.S. 522 (2003). The year can start later if an unlawful government barrier is removed, if the Supreme Court newly recognizes a retroactive right, or if the facts could not have been found earlier with due diligence. § 2255(f)(2)–(4). Courts enforce the deadline strictly. The one-year deadline page sets out each start date. A denial can be appealed only with a certificate of appealability.
Common grounds in a § 2255 motion
Ineffective assistance of counsel. The Sixth Amendment test is from Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984): the lawyer’s work fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and there is a reasonable probability of a different result. If the lawyer ignored an instruction to file a notice of appeal, prejudice is presumed, including when the plea agreement has an appeal waiver. Roe v. Flores-Ortega, 528 U.S. 470 (2000); Garza v. Idaho, 586 U.S. 232 (2019). See ineffective assistance claims and appeal claims.
Jurisdiction. A motion can argue the court had no power to impose the sentence. A true jurisdictional defect cannot be waived, but courts treat fewer mistakes that way than they once did. A defect in the indictment does not by itself take away that power. United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625 (2002). Jurisdiction claims draws the line.
A newly recognized right. A first motion gets one year from the date of the Supreme Court decision, not from a later ruling that the right is retroactive. 28 U.S.C. § 2255(f)(3); Dodd v. United States, 545 U.S. 353 (2005). A second motion needs permission from the court of appeals, and a new-rule claim must rest on a new rule of constitutional law the Supreme Court has made retroactive. 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h)(2). See newly recognized rights and second or successive motions.
How § 2255 differs from § 2241 and compassionate release
Section 2241 is the usual way to challenge how a federal sentence is being carried out, and it is filed in the district where the person is held. An attack on the conviction or the sentence itself belongs in § 2255, in the sentencing court. Tolliver v. Dobre, 211 F.3d 876 (5th Cir. 2000). The saving clause in § 2255(e) allows a § 2241 petition only when the § 2255 remedy is inadequate or ineffective. After Jones v. Hendrix, 599 U.S. 465 (2023), a new reading of a criminal statute is not a way around the limits on a second § 2255 motion. Our pages on habeas corpus and the saving clause compare the two.
Compassionate release is not a substitute. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), a court may reduce a prison term for extraordinary and compelling reasons tied to the person’s circumstances. In Fernandez v. United States (May 28, 2026), the Supreme Court held that an attack on the validity of a conviction must proceed under § 2255, and that the supposed invalidity of a conviction is not an extraordinary and compelling reason for release.
What to gather before filing
Collect the docket, the judgment, the charging document, plea papers or transcripts, the presentence report, the statement of reasons, and the defense file before the year runs out. Gathering paper does not pause § 2255(f). If there was an appeal, add the notice of appeal, the briefs, and the decision. Ask the former lawyer for the file in writing and keep a copy of the request. Our page on preparing a § 2255 motion lists these items. If you are in Bureau of Prisons custody, do not have the presentence report or the statement of reasons mailed into the prison. The Bureau treats those copies as contraband. Someone outside can hold them. For a consultation, have the judgment, the case number, and the dates of any appeal decisions handy.
What this site is for
2255motion.com is Criminal Center’s plain-language guide to that motion and the federal remedies next to it. The pages cite the statute, the § 2255 rules, and the cases. They are general information for the person facing the federal case and for loved ones reading along. They are not advice about any one case, and reading them does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Brandon Sample is the attorney at Criminal Center. He is licensed in Vermont, and practice is limited to federal courts and federal agencies. He has also handled federal cases in courts across the country. The courts where he is admitted are on his biography, and the books are on our books page.
Questions about your case? Request a consultation to talk it through with Brandon Sample.