Dotson v. U.S.

Dist. Ct. did not err in sentencing defendant to 188-month term of incarceration on unlawful possession of firearm charge, where said sentence was based, in part, on finding that defendant qualified as career offender under Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) based on three prior convictions. When one of said convictions was subsequently determined to not qualify as violent felony under ACCA, defendant filed habeas petition seeking reduced sentence. Dist. Ct., though, did not err in denying habeas petition by substituting another of defendant’s prior convictions to re-establish his career offender status under ACCA, where: (1) defendant had mistakenly believed that Dist. Ct. had used substituted conviction when making ACCA finding at original sentencing hearing; and (2) defendant’s mistaken belief that substituted conviction was used by Dist. Ct. to make original ACCA finding precluded any claim of unfair notice when Dist. Ct. substituted conviction to sustain defendant’s sentence in habeas proceeding.