Opinion ID: 6985070
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: United States v. Custis and the ACCA

Text: The appearance of Custis in 1994 “created some further confusion” regarding the ability to challenge convictions that are later used for sentence enhancement. MooRe’s § 671.04[3][b]. In Custis, the Supreme Court considered the availability during federal sentencing hearings of collateral attacks on prior convictions that serve as the basis for enhancement under the ACCA. The Court held that Congress did not intend to permit defendants to challenge the validity of such convictions at federal sentencing hearings, except in cases where the prior convictions were obtained in total denial of the right to counsel, contrary to Gideon, as in cases such as Tucker and Burgett v. Texas, 389 U.S. 109, 88 S.Ct. 258, 19 L.Ed.2d 319 (1967). See Custis, 114 S.Ct. at 1734, 1737, 1738. Like Clark, Custis received the minimum mandatory fifteen-year sentence under the ACCA. At his federal sentencing hearing, Custis argued that his two prior Maryland convictions were constitutionally unsound because in those cases his attorney had provided ineffective assistance, Custis had not made a knowing and voluntary guilty plea, and he had not been adequately advised of his rights in selecting a “stipulated facts” trial. Id. at 1734. Observing that the ACCA “focuses on the fact of the conviction,” the Court did not find in the statute “any indication that Congress intended to permit collateral attacks on prior convictions used for sentence enhancement purposes.” Id. at 1736-37. In reaching its conclusion, the Court observed that “[e]ase of administration ... supports the distinction” it makes between Gideon error and other constitutional infirmities due to the undesirability of a procedure which “would require sentencing courts, to rummage through frequently nonexistent or difficult to obtain state-court transcripts.” Id. at 1738. And, the Court also observed that allowing attacks for non-Gideon error at sentencing would only result in “delay and protraction of the federal sentencing process.” Id. at 1739. Consequently, the ACCA did “not permit Custis to use the federal sentencing forum to gain review of his state .convictions.” Id. With collateral relief unavailable to Cus-tis at sentencing, the Court noted that he could pursue alternative means to challenge his prior convictions. Because he was still “in custody,” Custis “may attack his state sentences in Maryland or through federal habeas review.” Id. “If Custis is successful in attacking these state sentences,” the Court reasoned, “he may then apply for reopening of any federal sentence enhanced by the state sentences. We express no opinion on the appropriate disposition of such an application.” Id. ■ Custis is difficult to interpret. The opinion’s statement that ACCA “focusés on the fact of the conviction,” id. at 1736, and its reliance, id: at 1736-37, on Lewis v. United States, 445 U.S. 55, 100 S.Ct. 915, 63 L.Ed.2d 198 (1980), suggest that the Court may have construed the ACCA to render irrelevant the validity of the prior convictions so long as they had not been set aside before the commission of the predicate section 924(g) offense. In other words, Custis may have been a substantive, not a procedural, decision. In Lewis, the defendant was charged with violating 18 U.S.C.App. § 1202(a)(1) (1976), the predecessor to section 922(g)(1), the current felon-in-possession-of-a-firearm statute. Lewis had pleaded guilty to and been convicted of a felony in a Florida court in 1961. That conviction was never overturned. In 1977, he possessed a firearm. At his federal trial for the firearm offense, he offered to prove that his Florida conviction was constitutionally invalid because he had been without counsel contrary to Gideon. ' The trial court ruled that the validity of the Florida conviction was irrelevant. The Supreme Court affirmed, although it plainly assumed that the Florida conviction was invalid under Gideon, Tucker, and Burgett. See id. at 917-18. The Lewis Court held that under the language of section 1202(a)(1) “the fact of a felony conviction imposes a firearm disability until the conviction is vacated,” id. at 918, that the defendant “before obtaining his firearm, could have challenged his prior conviction in an appropriate proceeding in the Florida state courts,” id. at 920, and that “section 1202(a)(1) prohibits a felon from possessing a firearm despite the fact that the predicate felony may be subject to attack on constitutional grounds.” Id. at 921. The court distinguished Burgett and Tucker on the ground that in those cases the proper relevance of the challenged pri- or conviction “depended up” its “reliability.” Id. at 922. 9 We ultimately conclude, however, that Custis does not construe the ACCA the way Lewis construed former section 1202(a)(1). In other words, Custis does not hold that the “three previous convictions” mentioned in section 924(e)(1) include all convictions of the kind there described which were outstanding when the predicate section 922(g)(1) offense was committed, even though the convictions have thereafter been vacated for constitutional error. Nor does the government urge such a construction. Two aspects of Custis particularly support our interpretation of it in this respect. First, Custis recognizes that a claim of Gideon error-a claim such as that made in Burgett and Tucker-may be raised at sentencing under the ACCA to challenge any one or more of the “three previous convictions” asserted under section 924(e) even though the thus challenged conviction had not previously been vacated or set aside. Custis, 114 S.Ct. at 1737-38. But, under Lewis the putative Gideon invalidity of the prior conviction would have been substantively irrelevant. Second, Custis strongly suggests that if the defendant after his federal sentencing under the ACCA successfully attacks the prior convictions “through federal habeas review,” he may thereafter reopen the ACCA sentence. Id. at 1739. While Custis expressly leaves open the ultimate result in such a situation-“[w]e express no opinion on the appropriate disposition of such an application,” id.-the fact that the question is left open is necessarily inconsistent with any interpretation of Custis as holding or assuming that the constitutional invalidity on non-Gideon grounds of ACCA prior convictions is substantively irrelevant if the convictions have not been set aside prior to ACCA sentencing. Moreover, Justice Ginsburg, who concurred without reservation in Custis, has stated that “Custis presented a forum question. The issue was where, not whether, the defendant could attack a prior conviction for constitutional infirmity.” Nichols v. United States, 511 U.S. 738, 114 S.Ct. 1921, 1937, 128 L.Ed.2d 745 (1994) (Ginsburg, J. dissenting). The few published ACCA appellate decisions since Custis all appear to hold, or assume, that a successful post-ACCA sentencing attack on the prior convictions used for enhancement will result in appropriate section 2255 adjustment of the federal sentence. In United States v. Pettiford, 101 F.3d 199 (1st Cir.1996), the defendant had been sentenced under the ACCA based on several Massachusetts convictions, but after his ACCA sentencing the Massachusetts courts set aside all but one of the convictions. The defendant then sought section 2255 relief from his ACCA sentence. The district court granted relief, the government appealed, and the First Circuit affirmed, holding that the ACCA sentence was properly challenged pursuant to section 2255 because the predicate prior convictions had been set aside after the ACCA sentencing. See id. at 201. In Turner v. United States, 183 F.3d 474 (6th Cir.1999), Turner, who had been sentenced under the ACCA, brought a section 2255 challenge to his sentence, asserting that his prior state convictions on which the ACCA sentence was based were constitutionally invalid. The Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of the section 2255 petition, stating “We read Custis as requiring Turner to challenge the underlying state convictions first in the state court or in an independent habeas corpus proceeding brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Only after Turner succeeds in such a challenge can he seek to reopen his sentence in this case.” Id. at 477. The opinion does not address whether Turner could meet the “in custody” requirement of section 2254 or what the result would be if he could-not. Custis has also been applied outside of the ACCA context. The majority of courts hold that Custis does not preclude a federal habeas challenge to an enhanced sentence on the basis of a post-sentence attack on the constitutional validity (for other than Gideon error) of a prior conviction on which the enhancement was based. In United States v. Cox, 83 F.3d 336 (10th Cir.1996), the defendant, after his federal sentencing, successfully attacked several of the state convictions which had been used to calculate his criminal history category for purposes of his federal sentencing, and then attacked his federal sentence in a section 2255 proceeding. The Tenth Circuit held the district court erred by failing to reopen the federal sentence and cited Custis, and our decision in Nichols, for the proposition that “[i]f a defendant successfully attacks state sentences, he may then apply for reopening of any federal sentence enhanced by the state sentences.” Id. at 339. The Third Circuit in Young v. Vaughn, 83 F.3d 72 (3d Cir.1996), held that a section 2254 challenge properly lay to a state sentence then being served on the basis that it had been enhanced by a prior state conviction, the sentence for which had been fully served, which was constitutionally invalid (on other than Gideon grounds). The Young court specifically rejected the contention that such a challenge was precluded by Custis and particularly disagreed with the Eighth Circuit’s statement in Partee v. Hopkins, 30 F.3d 1011, 1012 (8th Cir.1994), that Custis held “ ‘there is no federal constitutional right to collaterally attack a prior conviction used to enhance a sentence on any constitutional ground other than failure to appoint counsel for an indigent defendant.’ ” See Young, 83 F.3d at 77. The Young opinion goes on to state that “[i]f a general principle is to be derived from Custis, it is the much narrower one that ‘federal sentencing hearings are not the proper forum for addressing the validity of prior convictions.’ ” Id. (emphasis You ng’s); see also Brock v. Weston, 31 F.3d 887, 890-91 (9th Cir.1994) (Custis does not preclude section 2254 challenge to fully served convictions used to enhance current state confinement); United States v. Bacon, 94 F.3d 158, 162 n. 3 (4th Cir.1996) (in sentencing Bacon the federal district court erred in disregarding a prior state robbery conviction-claimed to be invalid, but “of course, if Bacon succeeds in a future collateral proceeding in overturning his robbery conviction, federal law enables him then to seek review of any federal sentence that was imposed due to his state conviction,” citing Custis and our Nichols opinion). As noted, in Partee the Eighth Circuit took a different approach, holding that under Custis there could be no section 2254 challenge to a Nebraska sentence on the ground that it had been enhanced by a prior Arkansas conviction alleged to be constitutionally invalid on a basis other than Gideon error. Thereafter, in Charlton v. Morris, 53 F.3d 929 (8th Cir.1995) (per curiam), the court held that a section 2254 petition would not lie to attack a current federal drug offense sentence enhanced on the basis of a prior state conviction, which the petitioner alleged to be unconstitutional on the grounds of an improper jury instruction, and for which the sentence had been fully served. The court also remarked in dicta that under Partee the same result would obtain were the petition construed to be one under section 2255. See Charlton, 53 F.3d at 929-30. Similarly, in Arnold v. United States, 63 F.3d 708, 709 (8th Cir.1995), the court, based on Custis, held that a section 2255 challenge would not lie to a federal drug sentence enhanced by a prior state conviction allegedly based on an involuntary guilty plea. None of these Eighth Circuit opinions provides any analysis of Custis or any reasoning or discussion. The result in these cases seems to assume that Custis decided the question it expressly left open. 10 We have previously refused to give Cus-tis such a broad, preclusive reading. Post- Custis, we have reiterated our prior jurisprudence that “[a] habeas petitioner may attack a prior conviction used to enhance his punishment” and that the “jurisdictional requirement of ‘in custody’ is satisfied by reading the petition as a challenge to the current conviction.” Herbst, 42 F.3d at 905; see also Nichols, 30 F.3d at 37 (under Custis defendant who has a state sentence set aside properly utilizes section 2255 to reopen federal sentence enhanced on basis of the state sentence); United States v. Fisher, 106 F.3d 622, 630 (5th Cir.1997) (“The rationale of Burgett ... is equally applicable to ... constitutional infirmity arising from lack of notice ... Custis only addresses the right of a defendant in a federal sentencing proceeding to collaterally attack the validity of prior state proceedings”); Pleasant, 134 F.3d at 1259 (suggesting possible availability of section 2255 to challenge federal sentence enhanced by prior allegedly invalid fully served state sentence). We agree with the Third Circuit’s Young opinion in its rejection of Partee and in its refusal to expand Custis or its principles beyond speaking to what can or cannot be addressed at a federal sentencing hearing. Likewise, we agree with Justice Ginsburg that Custis speaks only to “where, not whether, the defendant could attack a prior conviction for constitutional infirmity.” The logic of the majority of post-Custis decisions leads to the conclusion that a defendant, who after his federal sentencing succeeds in a section 2254 (or state court) proceeding in setting aside as constitutionally infirm a prior state conviction used to enhance his federal sentence, may thereafter procure relief as to his federal sentence under section 2255. 11 We agree with this conclusion. And, if such a defendant meets the “in custody” requirement of section 2254 with respect to his state sentence, 12 then it may well make administrative good sense to require the defendant to first exhaust his section 2254 remedies and allow him to return under section 2255 to the court which imposed the enhanced sentence only after the prior conviction has been set aside in the section 2254 proceeding. 13 This is discussed below. But, what if the defendant, having unsuccessfully exhausted all available state remedies, does not meet section 2254’s “in custody” requirement as to the state conviction? In that situation, on what rational basis can preclusion of initial resort to section 2255 in the court imposing the enhanced federal sentence be justified? If a constitutionally infirm prior conviction, which after the ACCA sentencing has been set aside in a section 2254 proceeding, is so unreliable as to justify reopening the ACCA sentence under section 2255, an identically infirm prior conviction must likewise be too unreliable to justify the ACCA sentence when the defendant does not meet section 2254’s “in custody” requirement as to it and hence must initially resort to section 2255 in the ACCA court to establish its infirmity. As demonstrated in part I above, the “in custody” requirement of section 2255 is met and the fact that the state whose conviction is being challenged is not a party to the pro-ceéding does not suffice to preclude the ultimate availability of section 2255 relief. To hold otherwise on the basis of Custis is to treat it, contrary to our above analysis, as dictating “whether” in such a situation the prior state conviction can ever be challenged. Moreover, recently the Supreme Court has expressed reluctance to adopt a reading of the overall statutory habeas scheme that “would bar the prisoner from ever obtaining federal habeas review.” Stewart v. Martinez-Villareal, 523 U.S. 637, 118 S.Ct. 1618, 1622, 140 L.Ed.2d 849 (1998). We thus conclude thát thé district court erred in refusing to address Clark’s section 2255 petition without first determining whether he had exhausted his state remedies as to his 1983 state convictions and whether he met section 2254’s “in custody” requirement respecting them. If Clark has exhausted his state remedies and if he is not “in custody” for purposes of a section 2254 challenge to his 1983 state convictions, then the district court should address Clark’s section 2255 petition. We note that in no event should Clark be entitled to section 2255 relief if, had he met the “in custody” requirement of section 2254 as to his 1983 state convictions, he would for any reason nevertheless not have been entitled to relief as to them in a section 2254 proceeding against an appropriate state respondent. In other words, the failure to meet the section 2254 “in custody” requirement should not enhance Clark’s rights beyond what they would be if he met that requirement. See Craig, 458 F.2d at 1133-34 (“Texas is burdened with defending the attack on the Oklahoma conviction in the same way that the State of Oklahoma would be so burdened in a collateral attack in Oklahoma. No more, and no less .... the Oklahoma conviction should receive the same consideration by us that it would receive under a direct collateral