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Supreme Court Decisions - Booker/Fanfan...

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What is the name of your state? Federal

I have a question regarding today's decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court in terms of how a federal inmate who is no longer on his direct appeal, and in light of the stringent AEDPA time and limited filing restrictions for Habeas relief, may receive relief from his clearly unconstitutional sentence.

I have numerous friends in the federal prison system serving extreme sentences where these men went to trial and the government instructed the jury that they did not need to be concerned of drug type and/or quantity but merely make a finding beyond a reasonable doubt as to whether or not the defendant possessed a "measurable quantity of a controlled substance" with the intent to distribute. With such a low threshold of a burden of proof these men were convicted of crimes that could have carried a range of anywhere from less than a year to LIFE in prison - depending on the quantity and type of drugs they were ultimately held responsible for by the court under a preponderance standard. These cases are truly travesties of justice. Certainly these men deserved to go to prison - but not for the 20-30 year sentences they are serving.

I know a lot about the law - but I do not know how to get these men back into court to receive relief under these new cases, which clearly demonstrate that their sentences are unconstitutional.

If anyone can help me get them relief or at least point me in the right direction PLEASE advise. Feel free to call me at 316-265-2830. Thank you very much... Terry Brown
 


What roadblocks...

Well, there are several different cases. One raised the issue in his direct appeal, which went en-banc in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, but that died in 2002. In light of Booker/Fanfan he would have been sentenced to time served rather than the 22 years he is currently serving.

Another raised the same issue on direct appeal out of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. His is the exact same situation - serving 20+ years - he is a Columbian. He was arrested in O'Hare Airport with 1 kilo of cocaine - sentenced to more than 1,000 with jury being instructed that they were not to be concerned with quantity. Findings made by the Court under preponderence standard increased his sentence by more than 15 years.

Numerous cases where they did not raise the issue below and have fully exhausted all habeas remedies.

The harmless error standard is so high that it is difficult to get around - definitely a road block...
 
Well, actually - I hope you are not an attorney.

Yes, I know the meaning of the term - knew THAT already. However, the problem with Bob's situation is not Ex Post Facto. The problem with Bob's case is AEDPA - and its unconstitutional time bars. Clearly, where an issue was raised below - on direct - a 2255 petition should be allowed. Bob mailed his 2255 petition from prison less than one week before his one year time limit. For some unknown reason the document was returned to him and never even made it to the court. By the time he was able to put it back in the mail it arrived at the court less than one week late. The court stated that the petition was time barred.

Bob will die in prison. Unless AEDPA is successfully challenged. So, now we wait another 20 years? Or does someone out there know of a way to get Bob back into court?
 
TMBrown2004 said:
Well, actually - I hope you are not an attorney.

Yes, I know the meaning of the term - knew THAT already. However, the problem with Bob's situation is not Ex Post Facto. The problem with Bob's case is AEDPA - and its unconstitutional time bars. Clearly, where an issue was raised below - on direct - a 2255 petition should be allowed. Bob mailed his 2255 petition from prison less than one week before his one year time limit. For some unknown reason the document was returned to him and never even made it to the court. By the time he was able to put it back in the mail it arrived at the court less than one week late. The court stated that the petition was time barred.

Bob will die in prison. Unless AEDPA is successfully challenged. So, now we wait another 20 years? Or does someone out there know of a way to get Bob back into court?
Check with your rule book on "in the mail". The jail mail, is the mail, for the time limit. Proceedurally barred when a time stamp or date of mailing appears? Clerk error.
 
We tried that already and it was rejected. The postmark on the package was stamped in such a way that one cannot clearly make out the date.

Trust me - the obvious has already been done - when I say obvious I mean from a jailhouse lawyer perspective. There may be some obscure way of getting him back in and that is what I seek here...

BTW would you please review my post in thread - "Final draft - Undoing Twenty Years of Unconstitutional Prosecutorial Conduct" and let me know what you think?

Thanks...
 

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