Elisa Lopez-Vasquez v. Pamela Bondi

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 25-2354
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Robert J. Thomas, Jr.
lllllllllllllllllllllPetitioner
v.
United States of America
lllllllllllllllllllllRespondent
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City
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Submitted: April 30, 2026
Filed: May 28, 2026
[Unpublished]
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Before GRUENDER, ERICKSON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
Robert Thomas, Jr. has filed an application in this court for authorization to file
a second or successive 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion. He seeks to assert a claim that his
Guidelines career-offender sentence is illegal following the recent expungement of
his Missouri marijuana-related convictions, and the case was held in abeyance

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pending the outcome of a related matter in Lozano v. United States, 171 F.4th 1025
(8th Cir. 2026).
Because Thomas’s claim stemming from Missouri’s expungement order could
not have been presented in his first section 2255 motion, the newly ripe claim is not
“second or successive,” see Lozano, 171 F.4th at 1030-32 (concluding that newly
arisen claim challenging career-offender sentence following Missouri’s expungement
of prior marijuana-related conviction was not successive), and we deny as
unnecessary Thomas’s request for authorization, see Crouch v. Norris, 251 F.3d 720,
721-25 (8th Cir. 2001) (concluding that proposed habeas petition was not second or
successive within meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 2244, and denying as unnecessary
application for permission to file it). Thomas does not require this court’s permission
to pursue his section 2255 claim in the district court, but he will be subject to this
court’s precedent as to whether a conviction is “expunged” for Guidelines purposes.
See Lozano, 171 F.4th at 1034 (examining definition of “expunged” for purposes of
career-offender designation and concluding that movant’s career-offender designation
remained valid). The application is denied.
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