McIntosh v. United States

Background

Jaquan McIntosh was convicted after pleading guilty to Count One of the indictment, which charged conspiracy to commit racketeering under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d). As part of his plea, he admitted that he committed the murder of Donville Simpson. The court sentenced him principally to 280 months in prison. The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment, and the opinion states that no petition for review was filed in the Supreme Court.

In December 2019, McIntosh filed a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, a procedure that allows a federal prisoner to challenge a sentence in limited circumstances. He argued that his lawyer had been constitutionally ineffective and that, without the lawyer’s errors, he would not have pleaded guilty. The court described the initial motion and a later supplement as substantially conclusory, meaning they provided few specific supporting facts.

Earlier Rulings and Later Filing

The government responded to the motion. On June 11, 2020, the court denied it, but the court later recognized that it had acted before McIntosh’s time to reply to the government’s response had expired. The court said it would reconsider the motion if McIntosh submitted a reply by the extended deadline of October 7, 2020. No reply was filed by that deadline, and the court then denied reconsideration.

The court later received reply papers filed on October 15, 2020. Those papers expanded on McIntosh’s earlier submissions and presented what the court described as a potentially new account of events on October 5, 2013. McIntosh asked the court to treat the papers as part of his original submission and to reconsider the June 11 ruling.

Attorney-Client Privilege

Because McIntosh referred to facts he allegedly provided to his lawyer, the court ruled that he had waived attorney-client privilege—the protection for confidential communications between a lawyer and client—for communications concerning four subjects: the death of Donville Simpson; whether, and on what terms and basis, McIntosh should plead guilty or go to trial; his sentencing exposure after a guilty plea or conviction at trial; and other matters addressed in his sentence challenge, supplement, and October 15 filing.

The court directed McIntosh’s lawyer, Mr. Bell, to file an affidavit fully addressing those matters by January 28, 2021. It also directed the government to file a further response, including a response to the October 15 filing, by February 26, 2021.

Disposition

The order did not grant or deny the sentence challenge anew and did not finally decide whether the court would reconsider its June 11 ruling. Instead, it ordered additional submissions while the court considered that possibility. The court entered the memorandum and order on December 30, 2020.