Burnett v. United States

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: March 8, 2021
• Docket: 2:20-cv-00947
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

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4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE

9 10 KENNETH BURNETT, CASE NO. C20-0947JLR 11 Plaintiff, ORDER DIRECTING v. SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEFING 12 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 13 Defendant. 14

15 Before the court is Petitioner Kenneth Burnett’s motion to vacate the judgment in 16 his criminal matter under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. (Mot (Dkt. # 1); see also Reply (Dkt. # 9).) 17 Mr. Burnett contends that the court must vacate his conviction in his criminal matter in 18 light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Rehaif v. United States, __ U.S. __, 139 S. Ct. 19 2191 (2019). Respondent the United States of America (“the Government”) opposes Mr. 20 Burnett’s motion. (Resp. (Dkt. # 5).) 21 On reply, Mr. Burnett requests a stay in this case due to the Supreme Court 22 granting certiorari in United States v. Gary on January 8, 2021. (See Reply at 9); 954 1 F.3d 194 (4th Cir. 2020), cert. granted, No. 20-444, 2021 WL 77245 (U.S. Jan. 8, 2021) 2 (finding that a Rehaif error is structural and vacating conviction). The Supreme Court 3 granted certiorari after the Government filed its response to Mr. Burnett’s petition. (See

4 Resp. (filed December 21, 2020).) 5 The court DIRECTS the parties to provide supplemental briefing on the question 6 of whether the court should stay this case until the Supreme Court has issued a ruling in 7 Gary. The parties shall file briefs, limited to six pages, addressing this question by 8 Friday, March 19, 2021. There shall be no replies unless otherwise ordered by the court.

9 The court DIRECTS the clerk to renote Mr. Burnett’s motion to vacate (Dkt. # 1) for 10 March 19, 2021. 11 12 Dated this 8th day of March, 2021. 13 A 14 15 JAMES L. ROBART United States District Judge 16 17 18 19 20 21 22