United States Ninth Circuit

Granted a California prisoner's motion to file a second or successive habeas corpus petition alleging that he was convicted under an unconstitutionally vague statute. The prisoner argued that the constitutional rule laid down in Johnson v. US, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015), was not limited to the federal Armed Career Criminal Act's residual clause but also extended to California's second-degree felony-murder rule. Finding his position plausible, the Ninth Circuit held that he had made a prima-facie showing that his habeas petition relied on the new and retroactively applicable rule of Johnson.

Appellate Information

• Published 2018/08/06

Judges

• Gould

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel