John Ryan v. United States

EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge.

Custis v. United States, 511 U.S. 485, 487, 114 S.Ct. 1732, 128 L.Ed.2d 517 (1994), considered “whether a defendant in a federal sentencing proceeding may collaterally attack the validity of previous state convictions that are used to enhance his sentence” and held that “a defendant has no such right (with the sole exception of convictions obtained in violation of the right to counsel)”. We must decide whether Custis means only that the time for the attack on the state conviction is postponed to a collateral attack on the federal sentence. Our answer is no. A…