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Life Sentence as Career Offender Vacated, Plus Other Criminal Matters

By FindLaw Staff on June 22, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

In US v. Williams, No. 08-10185, the court of appeals vacated defendant's life sentence as a career offender under U.S.S.G. section 4B1.1 following his conviction for possession of crack cocaine, holding that, in light of the Supreme Court's ruling in Johnson, the fact of a conviction for felony battery on a law enforcement officer in Florida, standing alone, no longer satisfied the "crime of violence" enhancement criteria as defined under the "physical force" subdivision of section 4B1.2(a)(1).

In Gilbert v. US, No. 09-12513, the court of appeals vacated defendant's sentence for possession with intent to distribute both crack cocaine and marijuana, holding that defendant's sentence was enhanced based upon a nonexistent offense - being a career offender with only one prior violent felony.

In Bowles v. Sec'y., Dept. of Corrs., No. 10-10284, a capital habeas matter, the court of appeals affirmed the denial of petitioner's habeas petition, holding that petitioner did not cite any decision of any court anywhere that established any of the rights he was claiming in connection with the prosecutor's use of peremptory strikes to remove jurors who had reservations about the death penalty but were not removable for cause under Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770 (1968).

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