United States v. Sergio Bojorquez-Villagrana

An alien who was deported following a 1971 conviction for a controlled substance offense was rearrested in 1982 as a deported alien and now appeals the refusal of the district court to grant a writ of error coram nobis to reopen his 1971 case and resentence him under 18 U.S.C. §§ 5005 et seq. (the Federal Youth Corrections Act). We affirm.

The petitioner relies upon Dorszynski v. United States, 418 U.S. 424 , 94 S.Ct. 3042 , 41 L.Ed.2d 855 (1974), which makes it unlawful to impose an adult sentence upon a youth offender unless the sentencing judge first makes a finding, on the record, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 5010 (d) that the offender will derive no benefit from the special provisions of §§ 5010(b) and (c). Dorszynski applies to all sentences thereafter imposed upon persons defined in 18 U.S.C. § 5006 (d) as youth offenders, but until today this court has had no occasion to decide whether Dorszynski must be applied retrospectively to sentences imposed before Dorszynski and not under challenge by appeal or by collateral attack on Dorszynski grounds when Dorszynski was decided.

The Seventh Circuit, examining this question, decided that Dorszynski’s requirement of an explicit…