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February 05, 2008
Jailhouse lawyer convinces Supreme Court to hear client's case
Jailhouse lawyer convinces Supreme Court to hear client's case
Michael Ray earns 29 cents representing other inmates from his perch in the law library at the federal prison in Estill, S.C. But unlike most of the high-powered lawyers who charge thousands to file a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, the Associated Press says Ray has actually convinced the justices to hear oral arguments in his client's case.
Thanks to the convicted criminal's efforts, the nation's highest court will consider whether Keith Burgess should have received the mandatory minimum sentence in a drug case. "Conflicting court rulings have required 10-year sentences for people already convicted of misdemeanors, so a successful appeal could trim Burgess' sentence in half," AP says.
Jeff Fisher, the Stanford University law professor who will appear before the high court, tells the wire service that this could be the first time a jailhouse lawyer actually convinced the Supremes to hear a case. It's no longer a minor pleading. The latest filing was submitted by some legal heavyweights, including Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School.
Here are the legal questions that the court says this case presents:
1. Whether the term “felony drug offense” as used in federal statute requiring imposition of enhanced mandatory minimum 20 years’ imprisonment when drug offender has “prior conviction for a felony drug offense” must be read in pari materia with federal statutes defining both “felony” and “felony drug offense”, so as to require imposition of minimum 20—year sentence only if prior drug conviction is
both punishable by more than one year in prison and characterized as a felony by controlling law.
2. When the court finds that a criminal statute is ambiguous, must it then turn to rule of lenity to resolve ambiguity?
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/02/jailhouse-lawye.html
Posted by lois at February 5, 2008 09:05 AM