United States v. Surratt, Jr.

Defendant, convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to life imprisonment, appealed the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2241, seeking relief pursuant to United States v. Simmons. Had defendant been sentenced after Simmons, defendant would have faced a lower mandatory minimum sentence than the mandatory life term that he actually received. The court concluded that the district court lacked jurisdiction under section 2255(e) to consider defendant’s section 2241 petition. The court noted that it was not unsympathetic to defendant's claim due to the gravity of the life sentence. However, Congress has the power to define the scope of the writ of habeas corpus, and Congress has exercised that power here to narrowly limit the circumstances in which a section 2241 petition may be brought. The petition, in this case, does not present one of the permitted circumstances. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Surratt, Jr." on Justia Law