Shular Decision Disappoints, but Does not Curtail Future Filings
for ACCA Relief
by Derek Gilna
The Supreme
Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) in Shular issued a disappointing opinion that
advocates hoped would give prisoners one more argument to set aside ACCA
convictions, but the high court didn't. Justice Ginsburg asked, "Does
Section 924(e)(2)(A)(ii)'s 'serious drug offense' definition call for a
comparison to a generic offense? ...it does not..(it) requires only that the
state offense involve the conduct specified in the federal statute, (but) does
not require that the state offense match certain generic offenses."
However, in
Holguin Holguin
In US v.
Stone, we previously noted that the Attorney General had overruled his local prosecutors
and recommended a lesser term, which is exactly what the court granted, roughly
3 years rather than 7. There is
excellent reasoning in the AG's case filing that we have already used in court
filings arguing for a below-guidelines sentence based upon 3553 elements. If
you are eligible to file a 2255 habeas, and have been considering doing so, let
us see if you might benefit from those arguments.
HR 4018,
which provides elderly offender sentence credit, and which unanimously passed
the House, has passed out of Senate committee, and now awaits a Senate floor
vote, yet to be scheduled. Prisoners are disappointed in the slow
implementation of FSA time credit educational programs, which DOJ has yet to
completely roll out. Those of you who
have been wrongfully denied participation in those sentence-reducing programs
still have time to go through the admin remedy process to make sure that you
get the credits when they become available.
This brings
us to the subject of DOJ staff behavior, the subject of a study, "The Z:
Where Prison Guards' Favorite Tactic Is Messing With Your Head,"
highlighting the deliberate disorienting activities of unfair shakedowns,
arbitrary enforcement of rules, and retaliatory transfers. Be better than THEM; focus on the positive,
and remember that they receive no bonus pay for being nice and giving you
correct information. Attention is finally being paid to the extraordinarily
poor treatment received by women prisoners, highlighted in a new report from
the US Commission on Civil Rights, which shows that prison discipline policies
often punish women more harshly than men.
Another
study also shows that voters believe that reviewing and reducing lengthy
sentences serves a variety of important policy goals, including: bringing U.S.
sentencing more in line with international standards, reducing costs,
correcting older excessive sentences out of step with current practices, and
ensuring that people who pose little risk of committing crimes are not growing
old behind bars, separated from their families.
Let not
your heart be troubled, and show your respect for each other not only with
words, but with actions and with truth.
Federal Legal Center, Inc., Derek A. Gilna, JD, Director,
