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Eighth Circuit declares Begay retroactive and provides relief in 2255 motion

By Douglas A. Berman

While I was on the road yesterday, the Eighth Circuit handed down a significant opinion in Sun Bear v. US, 09-2992 (9th Cir. July 20, 2010) (available here).  Here is the unofficial summary of the ruling from the Eighth Circuit's website: Begay applies retroactively to cases on collateral review, and defendant was not a career offender in light of Begay; the district court erred, therefore in applying the career offender guideline to defendant; the court could not say the error was harmless since the court did not clearly indicate that the career offender guideline did not impact its sentencing determination; the matter is remanded for further proceedings. Though not breaking lots of new jurisprudential ground in Sun Bear, the opinion here clarifies and connects a lot of important points for folks working on various criminal history issues, especially on collateral review.continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on July 21, 2010 (boomark / email).