Davis v. USA, No. 14-3019 (7th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDavis trafficked heroin and crack cocaine in Rockford, Illinois. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to narcotics conspiracy in exchange for a sentence equal to 66 percent of the greater of the low end of the USSG sentencing range or the statutory minimum term. Davis expected to receive a sentence of no more than 80 months. The Guidelines range as calculated, after discovery that Davis had military offenses and a court martial conviction, was much longer than expected. The court ordered Davis to serve 172 months in prison--66 percent of the low end of the Guidelines range. No appeal was filed. In 2013, the Supreme Court held, in Alleyne v. United States, that any factual determination that increases the statutory mandatory minimum term to which a defendant is subject must be charged in the indictment and proven beyond reasonable doubt to the factfinder. Davis sought relief under 28 U.S.C. 2255 contending that sentencing findings regarding his criminal history increased the statutory minimum term and that his attorney was ineffective in advising him about the consequences of his plea and in failing to appeal. The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal, reasoning that Davis had no viable claim under Alleyne because the Supreme Court has not yet declared that decision applicable retroactively on collateral review, and that Davis’s other claims were untimely.
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