Kelly v. United States, No. 15-1914 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, convicted of drug and firearms offenses, appealed the denial of his 28 U.S.C. 2255 petition for habeas relief. Petitioner claimed that his counsel had rendered ineffective assistance at sentencing by failing to object to the application of the career-offender enhancement. He argued that his prior conviction for domestic-abuse assault in Iowa did not qualify as a crime of violence under USSG 4B1.2(a). The court concluded that counsel's performance was objectively reasonable given the absence of a clearly controlling precedent requiring a different course of action, and in light of the substantial deference the court afforded trial counsel. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Wollman, Author, with Loken and Bye, Circuit Judges] Prisoner case - Habeas. Given the absence of a clearly controlling precedent governing the physical force element of Guidelines Sec. 4B1.2(a)(1) at the time of defendant's sentencing, the district court did not err in determining that counsel's failure to object to use of Kelly's domestic assault conviction under Iowa Code Sec. 708.2A(3)(B) as a predicate offense for career offender sentencing was not ineffective assistance of counsel.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.