United States v. Elam

The Fifth Circuit vacated the district court's denial of defendant's motion for a special discovery hearing concerning the adequacy of trial counsel's representation and the district court's decision to decline to recharacterize the discovery motion as a 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion.The court held that the district court abused its discretion in declining to recharacterize defendant's special discovery motion as a section 2255 motion because it failed to construe the motion liberally and denied him the protections of the Great Writ. Accordingly, the court vacated and remanded, expressing no view on the merits. View "United States v. Elam" on Justia Law