Pakala v. United States, No. 15-1799 (1st Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, who was serving a 235-month sentence as an armed career criminal under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), sought certification to file in the district court a second or successive motion to vacate his sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 225. In his application, Petitioner relied upon the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v. United States, which struck down the “residual clause” of the ACCA as unconstitutionally vague. The First Circuit granted the application, allowing Petitioner to file his petition with the district court, and certified that Petitioner had made the requisite prima facie showing that the new constitutional rule announced in Johnson qualified as a basis for habeas relief on a second or successive petition.
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.