Kenneth Eugene Bousley v. United States (523 U.S. 614)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 18, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 523 U.S. 614 · 118 S. Ct. 1604
- Decided
- May 18, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. Petitioner pleaded guilty to “using” a firearm in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 924(c)(1) in 1990. Five years later we held in Bailey v. United States, 516 U. S. 137, 144 (1995), that § 924(c)(1)’s “use” prong requires the Government to show “active employment of the firearm.” Petitioner meanwhile had sought collateral relief under 28 U. S. C. §2255, claiming that his guilty plea was not knowing and intelligent because he was misinformed by the District Court as to the nature of the charged crime. We hold that, although this claim was proeedurally defaulted, petitioner may be entitled to a hearing on the merits of it if he makes the necessary showing to relieve the default. Following his arrest in March 1990, petitioner was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U. S. C. § 841(a)(1). A superseding indictment added the charge that he “knowingly and intentionally used . . . firearms during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime,” in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 924(c). App. 5-6. Petitioner agreed to plead guilty to both charges while reserving the right to challenge the quantity of drugs used in calculating his sentence. Id., at 10-12. The District Court accepted petitioner’s pleas, finding that he was “competent to enter [the] pleas, that [they were] voluntarily…
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