United States v. Gene Willard Gaylor

K.K. HALL, Circuit Judge:

Gene W. Gaylor, a federal inmate, appeals an order of the district court denying his motion brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate an enhanced prison sentence imposed upon him under the Dangerous Special Offender (“DSO”) statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3575. The district court held that Gaylor’s collateral attack on a prior state conviction used to establish his special offender status was barred by his failure to exhaust available state remedies. We affirm.

I

In 1979, while serving a twenty-year sentence on federal extortion charges, Gaylor was convicted of attempting to…