161078P.pdf   08/01/2018  Michael Holmes  v.  United States
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  16-1078
   U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis   
   [PUBLISHED] [Shepherd, Author, with Wollman and Erickson, Circuit Judges] 
   Civil case - Motion for a Certificate of Innocence. After Holmes's federal 
   sentence was vacated under Section 2255 based on illegal activities by the 
   officers involved in his arrest, Holmes moved for a certificate of 
   innocence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sections 1495 and 2513; held, the district 
   court did not err in denying the motion as the district court was free to 
   credit either of two contradictory witnesses; as the testimony from the 
   witness the court credited could have established Holmes's guilt, the 
   court decision that Holmes had not proven his innocence was not completely 
   capricious or without rational basis; in making that determination, the 
   court could rely primarily on the trial record and other relevant facts 
   presented by affidavit and did not need to conduct an evidentiary hearing; 
   Holmes's favorable verdict in his Section 1983 action against the police 
   officers did not undermine the credibility of the witness the court 
   credited in denying the motion for a certificate of innocence; while the 
   jury verdict in the Section 1983 was a piece of new evidence, it was not 
   evidence, if presented in a new certificate of innocence proceeding, which 
   would probably produce a new result, and the court did not err in denying 
   Holmes's Rule 60(b)(2) and (6) motion.