United States v. Ward

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

Focusing on deficiencies in a state court plea colloquy on the issue of voluntariness, Christopher Ward challenges on appeal his sentence of 120 months in prison for several drug-related convictions. Ward argues that his sentence is unreasonable as a matter of law because the district court relied on unconstitutional prior state convictions as the basis for a mandatory sentence enhancement under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A). In assessing this claim, we must consider the decision of the Supreme Court in Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969),…