Barnes v. United States
- Gregory Woods
- 1:20-cv-04871
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Barnes v. United States, Judge Woods granted Maurice Barnes’s motion to vacate his firearm conviction under a Supreme Court ruling.
Maurice Barnes’s conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) was vacated; the opinion does not state the effect on his remaining conviction or sentence.
What happened
In Barnes v. United States, Maurice Barnes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and possessing a firearm connected to that offense. The court sentenced him principally to 96 months in prison.
Barnes later asked the court to vacate his firearm conviction under a federal law allowing prisoners to challenge their convictions. He relied on a Supreme Court decision holding that part of the firearm statute was unconstitutionally vague, and the government agreed that his conviction had to be vacated.
Judge Gregory H. Woods granted Barnes’s application and vacated the firearm conviction. The court directed the clerk to terminate the motion and close the related civil case.
The detailed version
- Barnes v. United States · No. 1:20-cv-04871
- Gregory Woods
- Mar. 16, 2021
Background
Maurice Barnes pleaded guilty under a plea agreement to a two-count superseding indictment. Count One charged conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery under 18 U.S.C. § 1951. Count Two charged possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), with the Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy serving as the underlying crime of violence. On August 30, 2017, the court sentenced Barnes principally to 96 months in prison.
Motion and Legal Basis
On June 23, 2020, Barnes moved under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate his Count Two conviction. He relied on United States v. Davis, in which the Supreme Court held that the residual clause of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) was unconstitutionally vague. The government agreed that Davis required vacating Barnes’s § 924(c) conviction.
Ruling
The court granted Barnes’s application to vacate his § 924(c) conviction and stated that the conviction for that offense was vacated. Judge Gregory H. Woods directed the clerk to terminate the pending motion and post the order in the related civil matter, 1:20-cv-4871, and close that case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.