Slusser v. Vereen: In 2011, Slusser pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in the Eastern District of Tennessee and was sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act. His plea agreement contained a waiver of his right to collaterally attack his sentence for any reason aside from prosecutorial misconduct or ineffective assistance of counsel. After Johnson, Sludder got permission from the Sixth Circuit to file a second 2255 motion challenging his ACCA status. The district court denied his motion on the merits (i.e., he still had the necessary prior convictions) but on appeal the Sixth Circuit affirmed on the basis of the waiver in the plea agreement. About a year later, the Sixth Circuit concluded that such waivers were not enforceable in such circumstances. Slusser then filed a 2241 motion in the District of South Carolina, where he was incarcerated, raising his Johnson challenge again. The district court dismissed the motion, holding that Slusser could not meet the requirements for filing a 2241 motion.
On appeal, the Fourth Circuit agreed and affirmed the dismissal of the 2241 motion. The court concluded that “we know that Section 2255 is up to the task of testing the legality of Slusser’s detention because he has already pursued his argument in a Section 2255 motion and received a judgment in it.” It did not matter that Slusser could no longer meet the requirements to file a successive 2255. What did matter is that the district court that considered his 2255 motion addressed his claims on the merits.
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