Massa v. United States
- Jed Rakoff
- 1:18-cv-06469
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Massa v. United States, Judge Rakoff vacated Massa’s firearm conviction and reduced his sentence by five years after the parties agreed it was legally invalid.
Americo Massa’s federal convictions and sentence were affected: the court vacated his firearm conviction and reduced his total sentence from 420 months to 360 months. The United States was the respondent and consented to the relief.
What happened
In Massa v. United States, Americo Massa challenged his conviction and sentence for using a firearm in connection with a crime of violence. He had received a total sentence of 35 years for three convictions, including the firearm conviction.
Massa argued that conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering was not legally a qualifying crime of violence for the firearm charge. The court initially did not decide that issue because it treated his petition as a repeat petition that required review by the appeals court. The appeals court returned the matter for a decision on the legal issue.
Judge Jed S. Rakoff ruled that the firearm conviction had to be vacated under the Supreme Court’s decision in Davis. With the government’s consent, he reduced Massa’s sentence by 60 months, from 420 months to 360 months, and amended the judgment to leave only the two other convictions.
The detailed version
- Massa v. United States · No. 1:18-cv-06469
- Jed Rakoff
- Apr. 15, 2020
Background
Americo Massa pleaded guilty in 2002 to three offenses: racketeering conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d), conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering under 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(5), and using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The firearm charge was based on the murder-conspiracy offense. The court imposed consecutive sentences of 240 months on Count 1, 120 months on Count 2, and 60 months on Count 3, for a total of 420 months, or 35 years.
Prior proceedings
In 2009, Massa applied for a legal remedy seeking to modify his conviction, but the court denied that application. He later filed a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, a federal procedure for challenging a conviction or sentence. He argued that Count 3 had to be vacated because conspiracy to commit murder was not a qualifying “crime of violence” under § 924(c).
The court agreed with the substance of Massa’s argument in light of United States v. Davis, but initially concluded that it could not address the argument because it considered the § 2255 petition a second or later petition requiring authorization. The court transferred the petition to the Second Circuit. The Second Circuit determined that the petition was not actually a second or later petition and returned it to the district court for a decision on the merits.
Ruling
The parties agreed that, under Davis, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering is not a qualifying predicate crime of violence for purposes of § 924(c). With the government’s consent, Judge Jed S. Rakoff vacated Massa’s § 924(c) conviction.
The court reduced Massa’s sentence by the 60 months assigned to Count 3. It declined to order a full resentencing because the firearm conviction had not affected the sentences imposed on the two remaining counts. The court amended the judgment so that Massa remained convicted only of racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, and amended the total sentence to 360 months, or 30 years.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.