U.S. v. Fleming

In habeas proceeding in which defendant challenged on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel his conviction on drug and firearm charges, as well as his life sentence, Dist. Ct. did not err in setting aside defendant's life sentence after state admitted to filing late section 851 notice and re-sentencing defendant to 480-month term of incarceration based in part on testimony as to relevant conduct by individual who had purchased drugs from defendant over two-year period. Ct. also rejected defendant's attempt to appeal his conviction where defendant had failed to obtain certificate of appealability from Dist. Ct.'s order denying said challenge, and where defendant had failed to establish that basis for said challenge constituted fundamental miscarriage of justice, even though defendant argued that Dist. Ct. gave improper instruction allowing jury to aggregate quantities of drugs possessed by defendant to reach 50-gram threshold, even though record did not show that defendant possessed said quantity at any one time.