Benjamin v. United States

Background

Jason Benjamin filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, a procedure allowing a federal prisoner to seek relief from a conviction or sentence. He filed the petition without a lawyer. Benjamin had pleaded guilty to three counts: participating in a racketeering conspiracy, participating in a narcotics conspiracy, and using a discharged firearm in furtherance of both conspiracies. The firearm count carried a mandatory 10-year prison term that had to run consecutively to other prison terms. The court ultimately sentenced him to 273 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release.

Claims

Benjamin made two principal arguments. First, relying on United States v. Davis, he argued that his firearm conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) should be vacated because the racketeering conspiracy did not qualify as a “crime of violence” under the statute’s invalidated residual clause. Second, he argued that his defense counsel provided ineffective assistance by advising him to plead guilty to the firearm offense in connection with the racketeering conspiracy.

Court’s analysis

The court explained that Davis invalidated the residual-clause definition of “crime of violence” in § 924(c)(3)(B). But § 924(c) also applies when a firearm is used in connection with a “drug trafficking crime,” and Davis did not affect that part of the statute. Benjamin’s plea allocution established that he used a firearm in connection with both the racketeering conspiracy and the narcotics conspiracy. The court therefore held that the narcotics conspiracy independently supported the firearm conviction.

The court also rejected the ineffective-assistance claim under Strickland v. Washington. At the time of Benjamin’s sentencing, the law in the Second Circuit treated racketeering conspiracies as potential crimes of violence under the then-valid residual clause. The court therefore found that counsel’s advice did not fall below the required professional standard. It also found no prejudice because Benjamin would still have faced the firearm count’s 10-year mandatory minimum based on the narcotics conspiracy. The court noted that Benjamin had not claimed he would have rejected the plea offer, identified an alternative plea offer, or prevailed at trial.

Disposition

The court denied Benjamin’s § 2255 petition. It stated that its review of the broader record revealed no other coherent claim, proceeding-related defect, or prejudicial deficiency in counsel’s representation. The clerk was directed to terminate the pending motion at Dkt. 1093 and close case 20 Civ. 3022. The court declined to issue a certificate of appealability, certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith, and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.