United States Seventh Circuit

District court's denial of defendant's motion to vacate his life sentence for his conviction of possession with intent to distribute at least 50 grams of crack cocaine is vacated and remanded as defendant established a genuine issue of material fact as to whether his trial counsel's performance was deficient in deciding not to pursue the Fourth Amendment challenge in a motion to suppress, which was based upon a misunderstanding of the applicable law and not based on a reasonable trial strategy. On remand, an evidentiary hearing is necessary to resolve the factual issues of whether defendant consented to a search of his vehicle.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/09/2009
• Decided 05/14/2010
• Published 05/14/2010

Judges

• ROVNER, Circuit Judge., Before POSNER, ROVNER, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Katherine E. Graf, Attorney, Mayer Brown LLP, Houston, TX, for Petitioner-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Joseph H. Hartzler, Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Springfield, IL, for Respondent-Appellee.