United States v. Mouscardy
United States v. Mouscardy
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
I. INTRODUCTION
Pro se petitioner, Reginald Mouscardy, brings this writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, alleging primarily that he does not qualify for enhanced sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1), because his prior assault convictions were not violent felonies. He separately contends that those and other prior convictions were insufficient to support enhancement because he received concurrent sentences for each. Petitioner’s request for relief (Docket No. 89) is DENIED.
II. BACKGROUND
The Court assumes familiarity with its previous Memorandum and Order in this case regarding the petitioner’s motion to suppress evidence, see United States v. Mouscardy, No. 10-cr-10100, 2011 WL 2600550 (D.Mass. June 28, 2011), aff'd,
On July 26, 2011, a jury convicted Mous-cardy of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). This Court then sentenced him to twenty years in prison as an armed career criminal. Mouscardy appealed, alleging, among other things, that the ACCA sentencing enhancement violated his Sixth Amendment rights because the predicate offenses on which this Court had relied were not categorically violent felonies.
III. DISCUSSION
A. Standard of Review
A prisoner may seek postconviction relief from his sentence if that sen-fence was imposed (1) in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States or (2) by a court that lacked jurisdiction, or if that sentence (3) exceeded the statutory maximum or (4) is otherwise subject to collateral attack. 28 U.S.C. § 2255; see Damon v. United States, 732 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 2013). “Section 2255 is not a surrogate for a direct appeal,” and a petitioner bears the burden of establishing that such relief is necessary. David v. United States, 134 F.3d 470, 474 (1st Cir. 1998).
B. Sentence enhancement under the ACCA
Mouscardy argues primarily that his sentence must be vacated because his prior convictions for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (“ABDW”), pursuant to G.L. c. 265, § 15A(b), did not constitute “violent felonies” under the ACCA. In support of this contention, Mouscardy points to United States v. Holloway, 630 F.3d 252, 262 (1st Cir. 2011), in which the First Circuit concluded that the Massachusetts crime of simple assault and battery does not constitute a violent felony. Id.
As the government correctly notes, Mouscardy made precisely this argument on appeal and did not prevail. In United States v. Hart, 674 F.3d 33, 44 (1st
Although the law in this area is muddy and difficult, Mouscardy does not “identify any supervening authority that would cast doubt on the validity” of the Hart decision, or on the First Circuit’s conclusion that Mouscardy’s Massachusetts ABDW convictions were ACCA predicates. Mouscardy, 722 F.3d at 77-78.
Mouscardy further contends that three of the convictions listed in the pre-sentenc-ing report — a 2000 conviction for assault and battery on a police officer (“ABPO”); a 2002 conviction for ABDW and ABPO; and a 2003 conviction for ABPO as well as assault with a dangerous weapon — should not, for other reasons, have supported a sentence enhancement under the ACCA. None of these convictions is so eligible, he maintains, because the 2000 sentence ran concurrent with a sentence not contained in the pre-sentencing report, and the 2003 sentence ran concurrent with the 2002 sentence. Because Mouscardy could have raised this issue on direct appeal but did not do so, the procedural default rule precludes its assertion for the first time on collateral attack. See, e.g., Damon v. United States, 732 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 2013).
In any event, Mouscardy’s argument would fail on the merits. Insofar as Mouscardy suggests that a concurrent charge cannot constitute a predicate offense for purposes of the ACCA, Section 924(e)(1) of that statute contains no such prohibition, providing only that prior convictions must have been “committed on occasions different from one another.”
ORDER
For the foregoing reasons, the petitioner’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 petition (Docket No. 89) is DENIED.
. The ACCA provides that:
"[A] person who violates section 922(g) of this title and has three previous convictions ... for a violent felony or a serious drug offense ... shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not less than fifteen years.”
18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). A "violent felony” is further defined as:
"Any crime punishable by imprisonment for a term excéeding one year ... that—
i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another; or
ii) is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.”
18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B).
. Since Mouscardy’s section 2255 motion is "conclusively refuted as to the alleged facts by the files and records of the case,” this Court may resolve it without an evidentiary hearing. Myatt v. United States, 875 F.2d 8, 11 (1st Cir. 1989), citing Moran v. Hogan, 494 F.2d 1220, 1222 (1st Cir. 1974).
, The First Circuit's decision in United States v. Carrigan, 724 F.3d 39, 51 (1st Cir. 2013), is to the same effect.
. Mouscardy also points out that the government entered a nolle prosequi on June 6, 2013, regarding his 2005 conviction for distribution of crack cocaine. This conviction, which Mouscardy alleges was not yet final at the time of his sentencing, could not have sufficed as a predicate under the ACCA. But, as the First Circuit stated in a footnote, this Court explicitly disregarded the conviction to which Mouscardy now objects when making its sentencing determinations under the ACCA. Mouscardy, 722 F.3d at 77 n. 3.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Reginald MOUSCARDY, Defendant-Petitioner
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published