Opinion ID: 608197
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Collateral Attacks

Text: 3 The defendant has raised the issue of whether a district court must entertain a collateral attack upon a prior conviction used for sentence enhancement purposes under §§ 4B1.1 & 4A1.2, Application Note 6, of the Sentencing Guidelines. The district court in this case interpreted Application Note 6 to preclude collateral attack where the prior conviction is facially valid. United States v. Avery, 773 F.Supp. 1400, 1408 (D.Or.1991). In United States v. Vea-Gonzales, 986 F.2d 321, 324 (9th Cir.1993), this court determined that, under Ninth Circuit law, the Constitution requires a court to entertain collateral challenges to prior convictions used for sentence enhancement under §§ 4B1.1 and 4A1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines. That portion of the opinion of the district court in Avery which holds that a district court need not entertain collateral challenges was overruled. The district court, however, had gone on to consider the merits of defendant's challenge to the constitutionality of his prior convictions. We, therefore, consider the district court's ruling upon the constitutionality of Avery's two 1976 convictions. 4