Summary
This document is a pro se application for a certificate of appealability and supporting brief filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Dietrick Lewis Johnson Sr. challenges the denial of relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, raising claims concerning the voluntariness of his guilty plea, ineffective assistance and conflict of interest, competency, the validity of the indictment, prosecutorial misconduct, and discovery.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether a certificate of appealability should issue on Johnson's claim that his guilty plea was not knowing and voluntary because he allegedly was not advised of its consequences in a parallel state prosecution.
- Whether a certificate of appealability should issue on Johnson's ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims concerning investigation, suppression of evidence, preservation of error, and advice regarding the guilty plea.
- Whether a certificate of appealability should issue on Johnson's alleged conflict-of-interest claim involving counsel's advice to accept a plea agreement containing a collateral-attack waiver.
- Whether a certificate of appealability should issue on Johnson's claim that the district court violated Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11 and failed to inquire adequately into competency and the effects of prescription medication.
- Whether a certificate of appealability should issue on Johnson's claim that he was convicted and sentenced under an indictment allegedly returned by an expired grand jury.
- Whether the district court abused its discretion by denying Johnson's request for discovery in the § 2255 proceeding.
Factual background
According to the appellant's brief, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging carjacking, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and felon in possession of a firearm. Johnson entered a guilty plea to the carjacking count in exchange for dismissal of the firearm counts and was later sentenced to 240 months on the carjacking count and a concurrent 125 months for witness tampering. Johnson alleged that his federal plea agreement was used in a parallel Texas prosecution, that counsel failed to advise him of that consequence, and that counsel failed to investigate alleged warrantless searches, phone records, witnesses, and other evidence.
Procedural history
Johnson pleaded guilty in federal district court to carjacking under 18 U.S.C. § 2119 after the government agreed to dismiss firearm-related counts. He was later sentenced to 240 months on the carjacking count and a concurrent 125-month sentence for witness tampering. The district court denied his § 2255 motion, and Johnson sought a certificate of appealability in the Fifth Circuit.