United States v. Autrey

263 F. Supp. 3d 582
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedJune 19, 2017
DocketCriminal No. 1:99-cr-467; Civil Action No. 1:16-cv-788
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 263 F. Supp. 3d 582 (United States v. Autrey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Autrey, 263 F. Supp. 3d 582 (E.D. Va. 2017).

Opinion

[584]*584MEMORANDUM OPINION

T. S. Ellis Ill, United States District Judge

At issue in this kidnapping case is defendant’s petition to set aside and correct his sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 and the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Johnson v. United States, — U.S.-, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015).

On February 15, 2000, defendant pled guilty to one count of kidnapping, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201. Thereafter, on April 21, 2000, defendant received a sentence of 262 months’ imprisonment as a career offender because defendant’s kidnapping offense constitute a “crime of violence,” and because defendant had at least two prior convictions for “controlled substance offense[s]” or crimes of violence-pursuant to the United States Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”) §§ 4B1.1 & 4B1.2.

Over 15 years later, defendant has moved pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate and correct his sentence on the ground that the Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson operates to invalidate U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2’s residual clause. A hearing on the motion is unnecessary because the matter has been fully briefed and the facts and law are fully set forth in the existing record, and because “the motion and the files of the case conclusively show that the pris[585]*585oner is entitled to no relief[.]” 28 U.S.C. § 2255(b).

Accordingly, the matter is now ripe for disposition and must be denied.

I.

In July 1999, defendant and a confederate carjacked and kidnapped a woman in Fairfax County, Virginia. Defendant drove the victim to the District of Columbia and there ordered her to exit her car. Defendant then drove the vehicle to Texas, where he and his confederate were arrested. Thereafter, a grand jury indicted defendant on one count of kidnapping in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a) and one count of interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2312. On February 15, 2000, defendant pled guilty to the kidnapping charge. At sentencing on April 21, 2000, defendant received a sentence of 262 months’ imprisonment, a sentence at the bottom of the Guidelines range after applying § 4Bl.l’s career offender sentencing enhancement.

In the course of the sentencing hearing, defendant was deemed a career offender pursuant to § 4B1.1 because his instant offense, kidnapping, was a crime of violence, and because he had prior convictions for at least one “controlled substance offense” and one “crime of violence” as defined by the then-mandatory Guidelines. See U.S.S.G. §§ 4B1.1 & 4B1.2.1 Specifically, the Guidelines at the time defined a “crime of violence” as

any offense under federal or state law, punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, that—
(1) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, or
(2) is burglary of a dwelling, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.

U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2 (1998). The first clause in subsection (1) is commonly referred to as the “force clause,” whereas the italicized clause in subsection (2) is commonly referred to as the “residual clause.” See Beckles v. United States, — U.S. -, 137 S.Ct. 886, 891, 197 L.Ed.2d 145 (2017). The term, “physical force,” as used in § 4B1.2’s force clause means “force capable of physical pain or injury to another person.” Curtis Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133, 140, 130 S.Ct. 1265, 176 L.Ed.2d 1 (2010) (“Curtis Johnson”).

Specifically, the Presentence Investigation Report prepared in this case reflected (1) that defendant’s kidnapping conviction constituted a crime of violence under § 4B1.2, (2) that defendant had a prior “controlled substance offense” conviction for possessing with intent to distribute cocaine, and (3) that defendant had previously committed a “crime of violence” by violating Virginia’s maiming statute, Va. Code § 18.2-51.2 Accordingly, defendant’s mandatory Guidelines range was 262 to 327 months’ imprisonment. Without the career offender finding, defendant’s Guidelines range would have been 120 to 150 months’ imprisonment. Defendant’s sentence of 262 [586]*586months of imprisonment thus represented the bottom of the- Guidelines range for his kidnapping conviction and career offender enhancement.

Fifteen years after defendant’s conviction became final, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Johnson v. United States, addressing the definition of a “violent felony” in the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). See — U.S.-, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569. There, the Supreme Court held that the ACCA’s residual clause — the provision that defines a “violent felony” to include offenses that “involve[ ] conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another”3 — is unconstitutionally vague, and that “imposing an increased sentence under the residual clause of the [ACCA] violates the Constitution’s guarantee of due process.” Johnson, 135 S.Ct. at 2563. Thereafter, on April 18, 2016, the Supreme Court held that Johnson announced a new “substantive rule that has retroactive effect in cases on collateral review.” Welch v. United States, — U.S. -, 136 S.Ct. 1257, 1268, 194 L.Ed.2d 387 (2016).

'On April 26, 2016, defendant filed a letter asking for “review” of his conviction and sentence. Subsequently, defendant was appointed counsel, and on June 26, 2016, counsel filed a § 2255 motion defendant’s behalf. Defendant contends in his motion that Johnson operates to invalidate his sentence ' insofar as ‘ the Supreme Court’s decision undermined the residual clause of U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2.

The day after defense counsel filed this § 2255 motion, on June 27, 2016, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Bechles v. United States to address (1) whether the holding of Johnson applies to the residual clause of U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2, which is identical to the ACCA residual clause invalidated in Johnson,4 and (2) whether Johnson applies retroactively to collateral challenges to federal sentences enhanced pursuant to the residual clause of U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2. See Beckles v. United States, — U.S.-, 136 S.Ct. 2510, 195 L.Ed.2d 838 (2016). Thereafter, on July 15, 2016, the government moved for an order holding defendant’s motion in abeyance pending the Supreme Court’s decision in Bechles, which motion was granted. Several months later, the Supreme Court issued its Bech-les opinion, concluding that “the

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Bluebook (online)
263 F. Supp. 3d 582, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-autrey-vaed-2017.