No. 21-402

Akari Williams v. United States

Lower Court: Fifth Circuit
Docketed: 2021-09-14
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: certificate-of-appealability exigent-circumstances fourth-amendment general-search-warrant ineffective-assistance-of-counsel motion-to-suppress
Key Terms:
FourthAmendment CriminalProcedure HabeasCorpus Privacy JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2021-10-08
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Is a defendant entitled to a certificate of appealability to challenge a denied 28-U.S.C-2255 motion on ineffective-assistance-of-counsel when an attorney fails to timely file a motion to suppress evidence obtained by law-enforcement who (1) relied upon a general-search-warrant for one address to search a different residence, or alternatively, (2) failed to timely execute the general-warrant at the first residence so as to create exigent-circumstances to search a second residence?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW Failing to file a suppression motion is not per se ineffective assistance of counsel. Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U.S. 365, 106 S.Ct. 2574, 91 L.Ed.2d 305 (1986). But a trial counsel’s failure to file a pretrial motion to suppress is objectively ineffective when the trial court denies a counsel’s after-the-fact motion — based upon sufficient grounds to suggest a motion to suppress would have affected the outcome of the proceedings — to rectify the failure to file the motion. The two underlying issues that trial counsel failed to challenge support a certificate of appealability regarding ineffectiveness of counsel: (1) whether law enforcement can search a different residence under a “general search warrant” that fails to conform to the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment; or alternatively, (2) whether law enforcement, who fail to timely execute that general warrant, may use it to create exigent circumstances to enter the second residence. Therefore, the question before the court becomes: Is a defendant entitled to a certificate of appealability to challenge a denied 28 U.S.C. §2255 motion on ineffective assistance of counsel when an attorney fails to timely file a motion to suppress evidence obtained by law enforcement who (1) relied upon a general search warrant for one address to search a different residence, or alternatively, (2) failed to timely execute the general warrant at the first residence so as to create exigent circumstances to search a second residence?

Docket Entries

2021-10-12
Petition DENIED.
2021-09-22
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/8/2021.
2021-09-17
Waiver of right of respondent United States of America to respond filed.
2021-09-09
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 14, 2021)

Attorneys

Akari Williams
Mark David PlaisancePlaisance Law LLC, Petitioner
Mark David PlaisancePlaisance Law LLC, Petitioner
United States of America
Brian H. FletcherActing Solicitor General, Respondent
Brian H. FletcherActing Solicitor General, Respondent