Al-'Owhali v. United States, No. 20-3174 (2d Cir. 2022)
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Petitioner participated in the bombings of American embassies in Africa. The attacks killed 224 people. In 2001, he was convicted of 266 counts and sentenced to 264 concurrent life terms of imprisonment, to be followed by a consecutive 10-year term of imprisonment, in turn, to be followed by a consecutive 30-year term of imprisonment. He later filed a motion under 28 U.S.C. Section 2255 to vacate his conviction for using an explosive device during a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c). That conviction yielded the 30-year sentence that is to follow his other terms of imprisonment. Petitioner argues that the conviction’s predicate offense no longer qualifies as a “crime of violence” following United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 (2019).
The Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment and declined to consider Petitioner’s claim. The court held that the concurrent sentence doctrine allows a court to decline to review a challenged sentence when another is valid and carries the same or greater duration of punishment, such that the overall sentence would not change even if the challenge were successful. Here, the doctrine applies because he is challenging a conviction and resulting sentence that runs consecutively to one or more unchallenged life sentences.
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