Ward v. United States

ATF confidential informant Potts recruited Mayfield for an armed robbery of a fictional cocaine stash house and introduced Mayfield to undercover Agent Gomez, posing as a disgruntled drug courier. Gomez instructed Mayfield to recruit others. They met again. Mayfield brought Kindle; Kindle brought Ward. Gomez explained the plan and asked whether it was too much for them to handle. Ward responded that his concern was the number of guards at the stash house. He was not concerned with whether the guards were armed because, he asserted, they would enter with guns drawn. The next day, Ward drove the men from Mayfield's apartment to meet Gomez. They followed Gomez to a storage facility. Gomez again asked for any hesitations. Ward announced that he did not “come all the way from Milwaukee for nothin’.” ATF agents then arrested the men, searched Ward's van, and recovered masks, guns and ammunition, bulletproof vests, gloves, and a duffle bag. The court granted a motion in limine, precluding the defendants from presenting entrapment defenses. Ward did not testify. The court sentenced him to 270 months’ imprisonment. The Seventh Circuit affirmed and later affirmed the denial of Ward’s pro se 28 U.S.C. 2255 petition without holding an evidentiary hearing. The courts rejected Ward’s claim that his counsel was ineffective for failing to pursue an entrapment defense. Ward did not indicate any evidence to support the requisite inducement or lack of predisposition necessary to support that defense. View "Ward v. United States" on Justia Law