United States v. Lewis

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

This case raises a single issue: whether a district court’s failure at a section 2255 evidentiary hearing to provide counsel to a defendant entitled to have counsel under Rule 8(c) requires reversal. We conclude that it does.

I. Background

A federal grand jury indicted Eric L. Lewis, the defendant-appellant, on October 27, 1998, for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute approximately one pound of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841, and for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute one-half gallon…