Opinion ID: 685153
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mr. Morning: Increase based on prior conviction

Text: 23 Mr. Morning asserts that his prior conviction should not be used to enhance his sentence because that conviction was constitutionally flawed: He was denied effective assistance of counsel. He bases this claim of ineffectiveness on the ground that the attorney who represented him when he pled guilty in Illinois state court proceedings also represented Ms. Billops, his codefendant. 24 Mr. Morning had entered a plea of guilty in state court on March 18, 1983. It appears that no direct appeal was taken. See Ill.Sup.Ct.Rule 604(d). 8 Prior to trial in this case, the government filed an Information stating that it would seek an increase in Mr. Morning's potential statutory penalties based on the prior state court drug felony conviction. After Mr. Morning was convicted of the federal charges on February 26, 1994, he filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea in state court. 9 The state court denied that motion. The record is silent with respect to the basis for the denial. Mr. Morning then filed an appeal from the denial of that motion. That appeal was pending at the time of sentencing. At Mr. Morning's request, the district court conducted a hearing to determine whether Mr. Morning's state conviction should be considered in imposing sentence. On the authority of United States v. Mitchell, 18 F.3d 1355, 1358 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 640, 130 L.Ed.2d 546 (1994), the district court determined that the conviction would be considered. 25 The district court correctly applied our decision in Mitchell, now confirmed by the Supreme Court's decision in Custis v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1732, 128 L.Ed.2d 517 (1994). See United States v. Killion, 30 F.3d 844, 846 (7th Cir.1994) (discussing relationship between Mitchell and Custis.) Federal sentencing hearings are not the proper forum for addressing the validity of prior convictions. A collateral attack is permitted only when the prior conviction is presumptively void, that is, plainly detectable from a facial examination of the record. Mitchell, 18 F.3d at 1360-61. Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel do not present such a facial invalidity. Custis, --- U.S. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1738. 26