[Download] "Triplett v. United States" by Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Triplett v. United States
- Author : Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
- Release Date : January 14, 1994
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 51 KB
Description
Order On June 10, 1991, Desi Triplett pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846. The court sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment and 5 years' supervised release, and Triplett appealed arguing that his sentence was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause because the sentence distinguished cocaine powder (""cocaine"") from cocaine base (""crack cocaine""). We affirmed the sentence under U.S. v. Lawrence, 951 F.2d 751 (7th Cir. 1991). Triplett now brings this action under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 attempting to relitigate the same issue. Because we reached the merits of this issue in our prior opinion, the law of the case doctrine prevents us from revisiting it now absent an intervening change of law or some other special circumstance. U.S. v. Thomas, 11 F.3d 732, 736 (7th Cir. 1993), cert. denied, 63 U.S.L.W. 3346 (1994); U.S. v. Taglia, 922 F.2d 413 418 (7th Cir. 1991). cert. denied, 500 U.S. 427 (1991). We find no such change of law or special circumstance.2 See U.S. v. Smith, 34 F.3d 514, 525 (7th Cir. 1994) (penalties for cocaine base not cruel or unusual); Lawrence, 951 F.2d at 751 (rational basis for different penalties for cocaine base and cocaine powder).