Court Opinion

ID: 9492568
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:44:10.209537+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:22.121561
License: Public Domain

LAY, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the result only.
I agree that Latorre must show that he is actually innocent of both the “use” and “carry” prongs under § 924(c)(1) and must also show that he is actually innocent of any more serious charges that were dismissed pursuant to his plea agreement. This is the holding of Bousley v. United States, 523 U.S. 614, 622-24, 118 S.Ct. 1604, 140 L.Ed.2d 828 (1998).
I write separately because I cannot agree with the pure dicta of footnote one. The very essence of judicial restraint is not to raise issues that were neither raised by the parties in the district court nor briefed to this court. The majority acknowledges this concern as addressed by *1042our cases, but treats this as a rule of convenience rather than a principle of law. The majority uses the footnote to chastise the attorney representing the United States for failure to raise the issue of defendant’s waiver of his right to file either a direct or collateral attack on his sentence as contained in his plea agreement. The majority, for whatever reason, now urges the United States to raise such an issue on remand.3 The United States is represented in this case by a well-qualified Assistant United States Attorney who appeared before this court under the direction of a very dedicated and competent United States Attorney. This criticism of counsel is totally bewildering to me. The United States needs no assistance from this court as to what litigation strategy it should use in federal court. It is nothing more than pure speculation as to what litigation strategy the government has adopted. However, there could be many reasons why the government would not raise the issue of waiver here. Cf. United States v. Michelsen, 141 F.3d 867, 872 n.3 (8th Cir.) (a § 2255 challenge to illegal sentence cannot be waived; one who is actually innocent of a crime may always challenge an illegal sentence), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 119 S.Ct. 363, 142 L.Ed.2d 299 (1998).
Justice Scalia once wrote: “The rule that points not argued will not be considered is more than just a prudential rule of convenience; its observance, at least in the vast majority of cases, distinguishes our adversary system of justice from the inquisitorial one.” United States v. Burke, 504 U.S. 229, 246, 112 S.Ct. 1867, 119 L.Ed.2d 34 (1992) (Scalia, J. concurring).

. It is ironic to me that in a § 2255 case a petitioner may not raise an issue on appeal when the issue has been procedurally defaulted in the district court, yet the court expressly ignores this principle when dealing with the United States government. See Hunter v. United States, 160 F.3d 1109, 1114 (6th Cir.1998) (finding government forfeited waiver argument by not raising it in § 2255 motion in district court). This is hardly an acknowledgment of a "level playing field.”