A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled that a man who sued his former counsel for $20 million alleging legal malpractice stemming from his appeal of his conviction for passport fraud wasn't able to show the attorney acted improperly.

In his Wednesday ruling, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer of the District of Connecticut said plaintiff Jason Akande has until Oct. 26 to file his response to show why his complaint against Portland, Maine, attorney Tina Schneider should not be dismissed.

Akande, who served 8 1/2 years in prison for conspiracy to commit passport fraud, passport fraud and making false statements to immigration authorities, alleged in his pro se lawsuit that Schneider violated his rights under the Fifth and Sixth amendments to the U.S. Constitution. In addition, Akande says in his lawsuit that Schneider "knowingly and willfully sold his precious freedom to the Connecticut federal prosecution" and that she "back-stabbed" him.

Schneider did not respond to several requests for comment Thursday.

After Akande appealed his conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the circuit court appointed Schneider to represent him. Akande, according to Meyer's ruling, told Schneider of all the claims he wanted to pursue on appeal but the attorney told him it was her "professional decision" not to raise every single claim. Schneider, Meyer wrote, advised Akande that he could file a pro se supplemental brief to raise any and all claims that she did not pursue in her briefing to the Second Circuit. The Second Circuit affirmed Akande's conviction.

Akande did not claim in his motion for post-conviction relief that Schneider had given ineffective counsel.

But, Akande waited until after he was released from prison to pursue the lawsuit against his former counsel. Specifically, Akande alleges Schneider failed to file "documentary evidence" in support of claims he wanted to pursue. Meyer does not outline what those specific claims were in his decision.

Akande, 52, also complained that Schneider failed to tell him about exculpatory evidence—that being charges in the original indictment filed against him were dismissed after he was convicted on the charges in the superseding indictment.

Meyer, though, found none of Akande's claims were valid.

"Accordingly, in the absence of any showing that Akande's convictions have been overturned, it appears there are no grounds for Akande to hold Schneider liable for a claim of legal malpractice. … Akande's complaint appears to lack merit and is subject to dismissal pursuant to" the U.S. Code.

Akande, who lives in Bloomfield, Connecticut, has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached for comment Thursday.