Bradley v. United States

186 F. Supp. 3d 950, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60276, 2016 WL 2642263
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedMay 6, 2016
Docket15-cv-641-bbc; 03-cr-171-bbc
StatusPublished

This text of 186 F. Supp. 3d 950 (Bradley v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bradley v. United States, 186 F. Supp. 3d 950, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60276, 2016 WL 2642263 (W.D. Wis. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

BARBARA B. CRABB, District Judge

Petitioner Shane Bradley has filed a motion for post conviction relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. He contends that he should be resentenced in light of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v. United States, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), declaring unconstitutionally vague a portion of the penalty provision of the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 .U.S.C. § 924(e)(2). Although, petitioner was not sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act, he believes that the holding in Johnson applies [952]*952to his sentence, because it was increased under a similar provision defining “career offenders” in the sentencing guidelines, U.S.S.G. § 4B1.

It is true that petitioner’s sentence was increased under § 4B1.2 of the sentencing guidelines’ career offender provision and that this provision had its origin in 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2), the penalty provision of the Armed Career Criminal Act. However, the determination that petitioner was a career offender did not depend on the specific portion of the guidelines at issue in Johnson (the residual clause in subsection (B)(ii) of § 924(e)(2)). Instead, petitioner’s sentence was based on a different guidelines provision adapted from subsection (i) of § 924(e)(2)(B), that the Supreme Court has never found unconstitutional. Thus, he has no viable claim under the holding in Johnson, even assuming that Johnson applies to sentences determined under the sentencing guidelines and is not limited to sentences imposed under the Armed Career Criminal Act.

Petitioner had a potentially meritorious challenge to his sentence as having been increased improperly under § 924(e)(2)(B)(i), but he is barred from raising that claim in this proceeding. Not only has too much time passed since he became aware of the probable error in his sentence, but he raised the claim once before, in 2009. This court denied the claim and the holding was affirmed by the court of appeals. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(1) allows a prisoner in petitioner’s position only one opportunity to file a collateral attack.

RECORD FACTS

A. Federal Charges against Petitioner

In 2003, petitioner Shane Bradley was charged in federal court with three counts of distribution of heroin. He entered into a plea agreement with the government and pleaded guilty to one of the three distribution counts. At sentencing, the court determined that he had three previous state felony convictions that made him a career offender under the then-mandatory sentencing guidelines: (1) delivery of marijuana in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, 92CF265; (2) possession of THC with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia in Rock County, 93 CF1096; and (3) “Felony Intimidate Victim and Threaten Force” under Wis. Stat. § 940.45(3) in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, 93CF158. This last statute criminalizes a range of behavior. In 1993, it and its companion statute, § 940.4, read as follows:

Wis. Stat. § 940.44. Except as provided in Section 940.45, whoever knowingly and maliciously prevents or dissuades, or who attempts to so prevent or dissuade, another person who has been the victim of any crime or who is acting on behalf of the victim from doing any of the following is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor: (1) making any report of the victimization to any peace officer or state, local or federal law enforcement or prosecuting agency, or to any judge.
Wis. Stat. § 940.45. Whoever violates § 940.44 under any of the following circumstances is guilty of a Class D felony:
(1) Where the act is accompanied by force or violence or attempted force or violence upon the victim, or the spouse, child, parent, sibling or grandchild of the victim or any person sharing a common domicile with the victim.
(2) Where the act is accompanied by injury or damage to the real or personal property of any person covered under sub. (1).
(3) Where the act is accompanied by any express or implied threat of force, [953]*953violence, injury or damage described in sub. (1) or (2). • ■

(Remaining subsections omitted.)

The record does not show that petitioner’s counsel made any objections at sentencing to the use of petitioner’s prior drug convictions as predicates for a career offender sentence, although the parties agree now that the Rock County delivery charge was a mistake because the conviction was for possession only. In addition, petitioner’s counsel made no objection to the use of the state victim intimidation statute as a predicate conviction, although nothing in the state court record submitted by the parties shows which part of § 940.45 petitioner was charged with violating. (A person can violate the statute without committing any act of force or violence against the person of another or threatening to do so, by threatening damage to personal property or real estate belonging to or occupied by the victim or by certain family members. (Under the sentencing guidelines, a person can be subjected to an increased sentence as a “career offender” only if the person has been previously convicted of a “serious drug offense” or a “crime punishable by imprisonment of a term exceeding one year that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of force against the person of another.” U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2.)

Without any objection by petitioner’s counsel, the sentencing judge found that petitioner’s two prior drug convictions were felony controlled substance offenses and the third was a crime of violence under the guidelines. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1. Petitioner was sentenced to a term of 223 months in prison and did not appeal. Had he not been found to be a career offender, his guidelines would have been 77-96 months.

B. Petitioner’s Prior State Court Convictions

After petitioner was sentenced in federal court, he tried to persuade the Circuit Court for Jefferson County to correct the record of his 1994 intimidation conviction to show that he had been convicted in state court of intimidation of a victim, under Wis. Stat. § 940.45(3), rather than intimidation of a witness under § 940.43. In 2005, the state circuit court agreed to change the crime of which he had been convicted to that of “intimidate witness in violation of Wis. Stat. § 940.43.” (Emphasis added.) Wisconsin v. Bradley, 2005AP2261, dkt. # 15-4, 15-cv-641, at 3. Shortly thereafter, petitioner asked the circuit court to expunge his conviction for intimidating a victim on the ground that he had not been convicted of that crime. Id. at 3. This proved to be a dead end when the circuit court denied the motion.

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Bluebook (online)
186 F. Supp. 3d 950, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60276, 2016 WL 2642263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bradley-v-united-states-wiwd-2016.