Opinion ID: 4534345
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the fourth circuit’s ruling in hodge

Text: In Hodge, the Fourth Circuit confronted facts that are, for our purposes, identical to those of Mr. Tribue’s case.4 See 902 F.3d at 423–25. Garnett Hodge was convicted of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and being a 4 I recognize that the Fourth Circuit has a different standard than the Eleventh Circuit for § 2255 movants seeking Johnson relief. See United States v. Winston, 850 F.3d 677, 682 (4th Cir. 2017) (stating that a Johnson movant succeeds by showing that his sentence “may have been” predicated on application of the residual clause). But this standard was immaterial to the holding in Hodge. 18 Case: 18-10579 Date Filed: 05/14/2020 Page: 19 of 23 felon in possession. Id. at 423. He received an ACCA sentence based on three prior convictions the PSR identified as predicates for the longer sentence. Id. at 423–24. The PSR mentioned other prior convictions but did not designate them as ACCA predicates. Id. at 424. Neither the sentencing court nor the government discussed which of Mr. Hodge’s prior convictions it was relying upon to impose his ACCA sentence. Id. The district court generally adopted the PSR without change. Id. Mr. Hodge appealed his sentence, but his appeal was dismissed based on an appeal waiver in his plea agreement. Id. He also filed an unsuccessful § 2255 petition in 2014. Id. Then in 2016, Mr. Hodge received permission to file a second § 2255 petition in light of Johnson. Id. at 424–25. In his habeas petition, Mr. Hodge argued that his ACCA sentence was no longer valid because one of the three convictions used to support his sentence was for reckless endangerment. Id. at 425. The government argued that Mr. Hodge still qualified for the enhancement based on another prior felony drug conviction. Id. But this conviction had not been one of the three identified in the PSR as supporting Mr. Hodge’s ACCA sentence. Id. at 424–25. The district court denied the § 2255 petition. Id. at 425. The Fourth Circuit reversed the decision denying Mr. Hodge’s petition. It ruled that the government had one chance—sentencing—to prove Mr. Hodge had enough ACCA-qualifying predicate convictions to be sentenced under that statute. 19 Case: 18-10579 Date Filed: 05/14/2020 Page: 20 of 23 Id. at 427–28. The court reasoned that Mr. Hodge’s failure to object to additional prior convictions could not be held against him because he was not on notice that those convictions could ever be used as ACCA predicates. Id. at 428. To force the defendant to object in this circumstance “would undermine the adversarial process: It would place defense counsel in the precarious position of flagging potential predicates that neither the U.S. Probation Office nor the Government had contemplated, likely to the defendant’s detriment.” Id. The court was not moved by the government’s argument that the PSR failed to designate the additional conviction as an ACCA predicate because doing so would have been “unnecessary.” Id. at 428 n.4. Much as the defendant’s failure to object to the PSR constitutes a waiver of those objections on collateral review, so too must that rule be applied to the government. Id. at 428–29. Also, permitting the government to substitute convictions on collateral review “would unfairly deprive petitioners of an adequate opportunity to respond.” Id. at 429 (alteration adopted and quotation marks omitted). This is so because of the different burdens at sentencing and on collateral review, as well as the “far more limited” nature of collateral review, given the need for petitioners to secure a certificate of appealability. Id. at 429–30. Finally, I share the Fourth Circuit’s view regarding our (pre-Tribue) circuit case law, when it said that “the Eleventh Circuit has reached the same conclusion.” Id. at 430–31 (discussing Bryant and Petite). 20 Case: 18-10579 Date Filed: 05/14/2020 Page: 21 of 23