# United States Court of Appeals

For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604

Submitted January 27, 2021 *

Decided February 1, 2021

Before

MICHAEL B. BRENNAN, Circuit Judge

MICHAEL Y. SCUDDER, Circuit Judge

AMY J. ST. EVE, Circuit Judge

No. 20-1915

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee ,

v

.
ALBERT L. RICHARDSON, JR., Defendant-Appellant

. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

No. 92–cr-30116-SMY

Staci M. Yandle, J udge

.

O R D E R

Albert Richardson appeals the district co urt’s order denying his petition for a writ of coram nobis . We affirm.

The procedural history of Richardson’s cr iminal proceedings is familiar to the parties and need not be discussed at len gth. Richardson pleaded guilty in 1992 to

* We have agreed to decide this case without oral argument because the briefs and record adequately present the facts an d legal arguments, and oral argument would not significantly aid the court. F ED

. R. A PP

. P. 34(a)(2)(C). NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited onl y in accordance with Fed. R. A pp . P. 32.1No. 20-1915 Page 2

conspiring to distribute crack cocaine and co mpleted his sentence for that conviction in 2002. He later served time on another federal conviction, and in 2019 he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentenced to 96 months’ imprisonment. While serving this sentence, Richardson filed a petition for a writ of error coram nobis with the district court that presided over his 1992 conviction, arguing that sentencing errors in that case led to an undue senten ce enhancement for his current conviction. The court construed Richardson’s filing as a motion for relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 and denied it because he was no longer “in custody” for that conviction.

As an initial matter, the district court should have construed Richardson’s filing as it was labeled: a petition for a writ of coram nobis . “[ C ] oram nobis provides a way to collaterally attack a criminal conviction for a person . . . who is no longer ‘in custody’ and therefore cannot seek habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255.” Chaidez v. United States , 568 U.S. 342, 345 n.1 (2013). Richardson’s case meet s this criterion: he is challenging the sentence for his 1992 conviction that he already served.

Even so, Richardson is not entitled to relief. A writ of coram nobis is “to be used only in extraordinary cases” where it is necessary “to achieve justice.” United States v. Delhorno , 915 F.3d 449, 452–53 (7th Cir. 2019). It is av ailable only when (1) there is an error so fundamental as to render the convic tion invalid, (2) there are sound reasons for the petitioner’s failure to seek relief earlie r, and (3) the defendant continues to suffer from his conviction. Id . at 453. Richardson cannot satisfy the first element. He mounts no meaningful challenge to his 1992 conviction ; he challenges only the lawfulness of the resulting sentence. An error in a defendant’s sentence is not so “fundamental” as to render the conviction itself “invalid.” United States v. Wilkozek , 822 F.3d 364, 369 (7th Cir. 2016) (alleged error in defendant’s sentence is not fundamental because it “doesn’t cast doubt on [the defendant’s] guilt”). Becaus e Richardson cannot meet the first element, we need not address the remaining two elements

.

AFFIRMED