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Court denies inmate’s request for reprieve
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Posted on Apr 28 2005
The U.S. District Court has denied the request for reprieve by an inmate detained at a federal prison facility in Arizona, who claimed that he was not made fully aware of what transpired during the court proceeding.
Chief judge Alex R. Munson denied Monday the petition of Ke Shi Cheng, who had asked the court to correct or vacate its sentence on the drug case against him.
The court had sentenced Ke to 64 months imprisonment following his March 26, 2004 conviction on conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Ke has been serving his prison term at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona.
Ke had claimed limited English proficiency and that his lawyer, as well as the interpreters of the attorney and the court, failed to properly apprise him of what was going on in the court proceedings. He said the interpreters were not “certified” interpreters. His conviction stemmed from a plea agreement he had signed with federal prosecutors.
Munson junked Ke’s arguments, saying that the inmate’s petition violated the specific terms of his plea agreement, wherein the latter waived his right to appeal or litigate any sentence within the stipulated sentencing range.
The judge said that waiver provisions of plea agreements are enforceable.
