United States v. Ayers

JOHN D. BATES, United States District Judge

In many ways, Lee Ayers has locked himself in. He locked himself into legal trouble when he committed a series of crimes that led to both state and federal convictions. He locked himself into a twelve-year prison sentence by agreeing to it in a plea deal. And he locked himself into a sentencing date that happened to occur a month before a landmark bill reducing mandatory minimum sentences was passed into law. Now, Ayers has collaterally attacked his sentence, claiming that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance because she did not seek to…