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Court denies inmate’s plea to set aside prison term
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Posted on Jan 07 2005
The U.S. District Court has denied the request of an inmate serving jail time in Lompoc, California, to set aside the 88-month prison term the court had imposed on him in a drug case.
Lawrence M. Fleming recently filed a civil action that cited recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which held that a defendant convicted on drug charges be afforded a fact-finding by the jury as to the quantity of drugs involved his case.
Fleming, through lawyer Timothy H. Bellas, said the appellate courts’ rulings are of constitutional significance that would entitle him to a correction of his sentence.
The judge junked the argument, saying that a precedent ruling cited in the civil action does not apply retroactively to cases on collateral review. Chief Judge Alex R. Munson noted that Fleming has already proceeded with the appellate process.
The judge also denied the request to reappoint Bellas as Fleming’s counsel. However, Munson recognized Fleming as a pauper litigant. “He [Fleming] shall not be required to pay any filing fee,” Munson said.
Fleming’s suit, which named the warden of the Lompoc correctional facility as defendant, said the 88-month prison term meted out against him was based on the pre-sentence investigation report that determined his offense level on the basis that the amount of drugs involved in his offense was “five grams but less than 20 grams.”
A jury convicted Fleming of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly referred to as “ice.”
Before his conviction, another set of jurors acquitted Fleming on a charge of possession of three grams of ice, but was undecided on the conspiracy charge. Saipan’s federal court sentenced Fleming to 88 months imprisonment on Jan. 6, 2003. (John Ravelo)
