Sullivan v. U.S.

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Criminal Court
Peremptory Challenge
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 15-2023
Decision Date: 
December 8, 2017
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed

Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing without evidentiary hearing defendant’s habeas petition challenging his wire fraud conviction on ground that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to govt.’s exclusion of prospective African-American juror, who indicated that he was attorney who was “very close to multiple criminal lawyers and some prosecutors.” Defendant could not establish prima facie case of race discrimination arising out of said exclusion, where defendant could not show that govt. allowed other lawyers outside instant protected classification to remain on jury. Also, Ct. rejected defendant’s claim that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to hire expert to rebut amount of loss attributable to defendant that arose out of wire fraud scheme, since defendant failed to present evidence indicating that said loss would have been under $400,000 threshold level used by Dist. Ct. to calculate instant 168-month sentence.