No. 18-6989

Jessie Lee Smith v. United States

Lower Court: Eleventh Circuit
Docketed: 2018-12-11
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP Experienced Counsel
Tags: acca-sentencing armed-career-criminal-act burden-of-proof collateral-review due-process johnson-rule johnson-v-united-states post-sentencing-case-law residual-clause retroactivity statutory-interpretation welch-v-united-states
Key Terms:
HabeasCorpus JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2019-03-15
Question Presented (AI Summary)

May a § 2255 defendant prove that his ACCA-enhanced sentence was based upon the residual clause through a process of elimination?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED In Johnson v. United States, this Court held that the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act is unconstitutional. In Welch v. United States, this Court applied the Johnson rule retroactively to cases on collateral review. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, when a defendant collaterally attacks his sentence under Johnson, he bears the burden of proving that the sentence was based upon the now-forbidden residual clause. But how may he meet that burden? May a § 2255 defendant, faced with a silent record below, prove that his ACCA-enhanced sentence was indeed based upon the residual clause through a process of elimination or, put another way, may he show that a predicate offense does not fit within the statute’s alternative sources: the elements and enumerated crimes clauses? And may he prove his case by surveying postsentencing case law, including this Court’s decisions clarifying the meaning of those alternative clauses?

Docket Entries

2019-03-18
Petition DENIED.
2019-02-28
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/15/2019.
2019-02-11
Memorandum of respondent United States filed.
2019-01-07
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 11, 2019.
2019-01-03
Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 10, 2019 to February 11, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
2018-12-07
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due January 10, 2019)

Attorneys

Jessie Lee Smith
Whitman Matthew DodgeFederal Defender Program Inc., Petitioner
Whitman Matthew DodgeFederal Defender Program Inc., Petitioner
United States
Noel J. FranciscoSolicitor General, Respondent
Noel J. FranciscoSolicitor General, Respondent