Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Tenth Circuit Blog

Criminal Law

: Tenth Circuit Blog

Relief Granted to 2255 Petitioner Who Did Not Receive Effective Assistance of Counsel in Sentencing Process

By Shari Allison

US v. Washington, 2010 WL 3786159 (Kan), 9/30/10 - Denial of 2255 petition reversed. Defendant was represented in this crack distribution case by attorney who knew nothing about how federal sentencing works. Defendant was convicted at trial of three sales involving a total of 61.98 grams. Attorney let client go to presentence interview alone and gave him no advice whatsoever about the purpose of the interview or what subjects to avoid. Client admitted to other sales and got tagged with an additional 2.5 kg as part of relevant conduct. This was ineffective assistance, and client suffered prejudice because, without the 2.5 kg, he would have been eligible for 3582(c) sentence reduction based on the Sentencing Commission's lowering of the maximum base offense level...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on October 07, 2010 (boomark / email).