UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

ANDREW LEE THOMAS, JR., ┐ Petitioner-Appellant, │ │ > No. 15-6200 v. │ │ │ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, │ Respondent-Appellee. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee at Memphis. Nos. 2:98-cr-20100; 2:03-cv-02416—Jon Phipps McCalla, District Judge.

Argued: November 2, 2016

Decided and Filed: February 24, 2017

Before: MERRITT, SILER, and DONALD, Circuit Judges. _________________

COUNSEL ARGUED: Kevin Wallace, WINSTON & STRAWN LLP, New York, New York, for Appellant. Tony R. Arvin, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Kevin Wallace, Elizabeth Cate, Mollie Richardson, WINSTON & STRAWN LLP, New York, New York, for Appellant. Tony R. Arvin, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellee. _________________

OPINION _________________

MERRITT, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Andrew Lee Thomas, Jr. appeals the district court’s order denying his habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 for relief from his federal court conviction. This case is a companion to Andrew L. Thomas v. Westbrooks, No. 15-5399 (6th Cir. No. 15-6200 Thomas v. United States Page 2

Feb. 24, 2017), which addresses Thomas’s habeas petition for relief from his state court conviction and sentence of death. These cases, while addressing similar facts, are different because the state case arises primarily from a violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373U.S.83(1963). The Brady claim fails in the federal case due to the sequence of the trials. The Brady violation in the state case, that the government did not disclose that witness Angela Jackson had received compensation after her federal testimony, occurred after the conclusion of Thomas’s federal trial. Accordingly we AFFIRM the district court’s denial of the § 2255 motion.

I. Background

Thomas was convicted of robbing and shooting an armored car courier. On April 21, 1997, Loomis-Fargo courier James Day was shot in the back of the head by Thomas during a pick-up. Thomas grabbed the money and checks that Day had been transporting and left the scene with another suspect, later identified as Anthony Bond. After fleeing the scene in a stolen Pontiac, they abandoned that vehicle and drove off in a red Suzuki which belonged to Thomas’s girlfriend at the time, Angela Jackson. Bond was later arrested on unrelated charges. Police subsequently matched Bond’s fingerprints to a fingerprint from the stolen Pontiac. Eventually Bond confessed to the Loomis-Fargo robbery and implicated Thomas. FBI agents questioned Angela Jackson, who was then separated from Thomas. Jackson implicated Thomas in the robbery and also disclosed that he used the crime’s proceeds to buy a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun in violation of his felon status.

During Thomas’s federal trial, the jury heard testimony from both Anthony Bond and Angela Jackson. After the federal trial concluded but before the state prosecution began, the FBI pai