Gun Crime Conviction Teeters on Review of Drug Buyer’s Conduct

A change in the interpretation of the federal statute that criminalizes “the use” of a gun during a drug-trafficking crime may require vacating the conviction of a dealer who accepted a gun in exchange for drugs, the Third Circuit said Wednesday.

This was Jeffrey Holland’s fourth request for habeas corpus relief from his conviction. Although successive habeas petitions are frowned upon, the government forfeited that objection, the court said, granting the relief.

But if the government can prove that Holland’s customer, Adrienne Stewart, violated 18 U.S.C. §924(c) when she gave him the gun in exchange for crack cocaine, he can ...