Shepherd v. United States

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Alabama
DecidedAugust 10, 2023
Docket7:20-cv-08033
StatusUnknown

This text of Shepherd v. United States (Shepherd v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shepherd v. United States, (N.D. Ala. 2023).

Opinion

U.S. DISTRICT N.D. OF AL IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA WESTERN DIVISION

OSCOREN SHEPHERD, ) ) Petitioner, ) ) Vv. ) 7:20-cv-08033-LSC ) (7:13-cv-00314-LSC-HNJ-1) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, |) ) Respondent. ) MEMORANDUM OF OPINION

I. Introduction Before this Court is a motion by Oscoren Shepherd (“Shepherd” or “Petitioner” )' to vacate, set aside, or otherwise correct his sentence of 180 months’ imprisonment and sixty months’ supervised release pursuant to 28 U.S.C § 2255 (“§ 2255”). (Doc. 1.) The Government responded in opposition to the motion. (Doc. 5.) For the reasons set forth below, Shepherd’s motion (doc. 1) is due to be denied and the present action dismissed with prejudice. II. Background

'Petitioner’s spelling of his surname varies between “Shepherd” and “Shepard” in his pleadings before this Court. (Compare Doc. 1 with Docs. 9, 11.) Because the case style reflects the spelling of “Shepherd,” which is consistent with the majority of the pleadings in the present case as well as the underlying criminal case, this Court elects to follow that spelling of Petitioner’s surname.

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A. Charges and Sentencing On July 30, 2013, a federal grand jury indicted Shepherd on one charge of being a felon’ in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C § 922(g)(1) (“§ 922(g)”). (Cr. Doc. 1-1 at 1-2 (sealed).)° Shepherd ultimately entered into a plea agreement with the Government and pleaded guilty to the charge. (Cr. Doc. 19.) This Court accepted his guilty plea on October 3, 2013. (Cr. Doc. 39 at 1, 17.) Pursuant to the plea agreement, Shepherd stipulated that the factual basis therein was “substantially correct.” (Cr. Doc. 19 at 4.) Specifically, Shepherd acknowledged that he was a felon at the time that law enforcement officers took him into custody for the offense at issue. (/d. at 3-4.) For sentencing purposes, the Government agreed to recommend a reduction in offense level for acceptance of responsibility and a term of imprisonment on the low end of the advisory sentencing guideline range. (/d. at 5.) The United States Probation Office filed a presentence investigation report (“PSR”) prior to Shepherd’s sentencing hearing. (Cr. Doc. 25 (sealed).) Shepherd

For purposes of this Opinion, the term “felony” refers to “a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year,” and “felon” refers to an individual convicted of such a crime. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1); see also Taylor ». United States, 495 U.S. 575, 578 (1990) (“Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), it is unlawful for a person who has been convicted previously [of] a felony to possess a firearm.”’). “Cr, Doc.” refers to an entry on the docket sheet in the underlying criminal case, United States vy. Shepherd, No. 7:13-CR-314-LSC-HNJ-001 (N.D. Ala. Feb. 19, 2014). Page 2 of 17

filed objections thereto, and the Probation Office filed an addendum that revised the PSR and specifically resolved each of Shepherd’s objections. (Cr. Doc. 30 (sealed).) At Shepherd’s sentencing hearing, this Court adopted the factual statements of the PSR (cr. doc. 25 (sealed)). (Cr. Doc. 40 at 2-3.) After finding that Shepherd had three qualifying felonies, this Court applied a sentence enhancement pursuant to the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), and concluded that Shepherd’s sentencing guideline range was 180 months to 210 months of imprisonment. (Cr. Doc. 40 at 3.) The Government recommended, and Shepherd requested (see cr. doc. 24 at 1), a sentence on the low end of the advisory guideline range. (Cr. Doc. 40 at 10.) Considering the nature and circumstances of the offense and Shepherd’s history and characteristics, this Court determined that a sentence

on the low end of the advisory guideline range was appropriate and sentenced Shepherd to 180 months of imprisonment followed by 60 months of supervised release. (/d. at 12, 14.) This Court entered judgment against Shepherd on February 19, 2014. (Cr. Doc. 27.) B. Appeal Shepherd filed a timely appeal of his conviction on March 5, 2014. (Cr. Doc. 31.) Shepherd made three arguments on appeal: (1) this Court erred in accepting his guilty plea because the plea lacked the support of a sufficient factual basis; (2) his

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guilty plea is void because the term “possess” in § 922(g)(1) is unconstitutionally vague; and (3) he received ineffective assistance of counsel.* The Eleventh Circuit granted the Government’s motion to dismiss as to Shepherd’s second and third claims.° (Cr. Doc. 48.) With respect to Shepherd’s first claim, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed his conviction, finding that Shepherd failed to demonstrate that this Court’s error, if any, affected his substantial rights.° Shepherd did not petition for a writ of certiorari. C. § 2255 Proceedings’ On April 24, 2020, Shepherd filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus (“Petition 1”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C § 2241 with the U.S. District Court for the

* Brief for Appellant at 12-13, United States v. Shepherd, 639 F. App’x 630 (11th Cir. 2016) (No. 14- 10976), ECE No. 24. > The Eleventh Circuit determined that the appeal waiver in Shepherd’s plea agreement with the Government barred him from raising his § 922(g)(1) claim on appeal. (Cr. Doc. 48 at 4.) Additionally, the Court found that Shepherd’s ineffective assistance claim was improper on appeal and that he must raise such a claim pursuant to a § 2255 motion. (/d.) ° Shepherd, 639 F. App’x at 630-31. 7 Shepherd requests that this Court appoint counsel to represent him for the present action. (Doc. 7.) “A plaintiffin a civil case has no constitutional right to appointment of counsel.” Bass ». Perrin, 170 F.3d 1312, 1320 (11th Cir. 1999). Petitions under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 are civil actions. See Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 91 n.2 (2006) (“[H]abeas corpus [is] an original . . . civil remedy for the enforcement of the right to personal liberty, rather than . . . a stage of the . . . criminal proceedings . . . or as an appeal therefrom.” (alterations in original) (quoting Fay »v. Voia, 372 U.S. 391, 423-24 (1963), overruled on other grounds by Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72 (1977), and abrogated on other grounds by Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722 (1991)). Accordingly, Shepherd’s request for appointment of counsel (doc. 7) is due to be DENIED.

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Central District of California.? (Cr. Doc. 54 at 20.) Shepherd was incarcerated in California at the time that he filed Petition 1. (Seezd.) The District Court in California transferred Petition 1 to this District, and U.S. District Judge Maze presided over the case.’ On August 18, 2020, Shepherd filed another § 2255 petition (“Petition 2”) directly with this Court.’ (Doc. 1.) Then, on September 22, 2021, Judge Maze adopted the report and recommendation of U.S.

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Shepherd v. United States, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shepherd-v-united-states-alnd-2023.