Federal Postconviction
En Banc Eleventh Circuit Says Conspiracy to Commit Federal Drug Offense Didn’t Count for Career Offender Sentence
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, sitting en banc, joined three other circuits and held that a federal conviction for conspiracy to commit a federal drug offense did not qualify under the career offender guideline as a third strike to impose the harsh career offender penalty. See United States v. Dupree, 57…
Tenth Circuit Holds District Court’s Erroneous Dismissal of Habeas Motion Based on Collateral Attack Waiver was Plain Error Requiring Remand
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held on February 17, 2023, that a district court’s misinterpretation of a collateral attack waiver, which led to the dismissal of a motion for relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, amounted to plain error that required remand to the district court to determine the merits of…
Federal Court Tosses Drug and Gun Convictions Based on Defective Search Warrant
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit tossed a federal drug and gun case based on a defective search warrant. The Court held that the affidavit filed by law enforcement to show probable cause to obtain a search warrant was lacking in detail and therefore the warrant should not have been issued. Lexington,…
Federal Habeas Corpus: Court Cannot Use Counsel’s Affidavit to Avoid Evidentiary Hearing Over Disputed Facts
Amaury Villa v. United States, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 12 (6th Cir. Jan. 3, 2023), __ F.4th __. Indicted in Florida and Connecticut, the defendant cooperated with prosecutors. Meanwhile, he was also indicted in Kentucky. The defendant was unaware of those charges when he pled guilty (represented by Attorney Perez) in the other cases. Those…
Federal Habeas Corpus: Raising Successful Habeas Claims
Criminal cases are chock full of errors. Judges err, prosecutors err, and of course defense lawyers are far from perfect. But when it comes to federal habeas corpus, not all errors are worth raising. Perhaps the most challenging part of federal habeas corpus might be coming up with claims worthy of arguing for relief. In…
Federal Habeas Corpus: Federal Prosecutors Argue in Supreme Court that Savings Clause Relief Should be Available
August 8, 2022: Jones v. Hendrix, No. 21-857 (S. Ct.) Even though the government has convinced some federal courts that relief under the savings clause should not even exist for prisoners under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, it has now changed its tune and argued in the Supreme Court that it was wrong and savings clause…
Ohio Plans to Execute a Man It Knows Is Innocent—Why?
(This post is a repost of an article by Prof. Sarat found here) I’ve been following Amherst Law Prof Austin Sarat’s posts on the Justia Verdict website for a while, and he always makes me stop and think with the topics he covers. While he often writes about problems with the death penalty, here’s a…
Federal Habeas Corpus: How to Raise an Actual Innocence Claim
Believe it or not, someone proving they`re “actually innocent” of their criminal offense is not enough to win federal habeas corpus relief. That`s because actual innocence, by itself, is not a constitutional violation to allow for federal habeas relief. Instead, it`s only the first step toward relief, and there must also be an underlying constitutional…
Federal Habeas Corpus: How to File a Second or Successive Habeas Petition for State Prisoners
In the name of finality, federal courts are reluctant to undo criminal judgments of state courts, especially repeated attempts by prisoners under habeas corpus. When the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) came along in 1996, Congress slammed the door shut for more than one shot at habeas relief in the federal courts. Let`s…