Mason v. United States Of America

Filing 17

ORDER ADOPTING re 11 Report and Recommendations denying Mason's 2255 petition. Petitioner is not entitled to a Certificate of Appealability, rendering moot any request for in forma pauperis status on appeal. Signed by Judge William T. Moore, Jr on 5/8/17. (loh)

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'I V.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOfi^
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THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
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PERRY DEAN MASON,

Petitioner,
CASE NOS. CV416-172
CR499-238

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Respondent.

ORDER

Before

the

Court

is

the

Magistrate

Judge's

Report

and

Recommendation (Doc. 11), to which objections have been filed

(Doc. 16). In his objections. Petitioner contends that based on
the Supreme Court's decision in Johnson v. United States,

U.S.

, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015), he no longer qualifies as a

"career offender" under the Sentencing Guidelines. (Doc. 16 at

5-6.) In Johnson, the Court held that the Armed Career Criminal
Act's residual clause was so vague as to violate due process.

However, Johnson does not provide the relief Petitioner seeks.
This

Court

sentenced

Petitioner

at

a

time

when

the

Sentencing Guidelines were mandatory and included an identically
worded

residual

clause.

Petitioner

argues

that

the

mandatory

nature of the Sentencing Guidelines entitles him to relief under
Johnson. However, that is not the case. First, in Deckles

United States,

U.S.

v.

, 2017 WL 855781 (Mar. 6, 2017), the