U.S. Supreme Court
Jailhouse Lawyer Wins Cert on Sentencing Case
Posted Feb 4, 2008, 08:58 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A “jailhouse lawyer” who helped a defendant challenge his cocaine sentence has seen a rare achievement: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.
Michael Ray, a former paralegal who is in prison in connection with a fraudulent real-estate financing scheme, spends 40 hours a week helping other inmates file court challenges, the Associated Press reports. He told AP in a telephone interview that he is elated about the cert grant.
"This is basically a once-in-a-lifetime for a good criminal defense attorney, so you can imagine I'm on cloud nine, with my background," he said.
Stanford law professor Jeff Fisher will handle the oral arguments, scheduled for March, on behalf of the defendant, Keith Lavon Burgess. At issue (PDF posted by SCOTUSblog) is whether a law requiring a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence for defendants convicted of prior felony drug offenses includes past offenses punishable by more than a year in prison, even if the state classified the offense as a misdemeanor.
Ray said he keeps current on legal issues by reading professional journals and is a member of the ABA.
"They're probably not super proud to have me as a member, but I do pay my dues every year," he told the wire service.
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