Mandatory Life Sentence and Guilty Plea Set Aside on Appeal

Lawrence Gerzog successfully challenged a guilty plea that resulted in mandatory life imprisonment. The Second Circuit found that the plea proceedings failed to establish that the client understood a life sentence was unavoidable. The court vacated the guilty plea and judgment and directed that further proceedings take place before a different judge. United States v. Johnson, 850 F.3d 515 (2d Cir. 2017). Justia Law