Alford

MEMORANDUM **

Alford appeals from the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 , challenging the constitutionality of a 1979 second degree murder conviction that was used to enhance his sentence for a 1995 battery conviction. We affirm.

The United States Supreme Court held in Lackawanna County District Attorney v. Coss, 532 U.S. 394 , 121 S.Ct. 1567 , 149 L.Ed.2d 608 (2001), that “once a state conviction is no longer open to direct or collateral attack in its own right because the defendant failed to pursue those remedies while they were available ... the conviction may be regarded as conclusively valid. If that conviction is later used to enhance a criminal sentence, the defendant generally may not challenge the enhanced sentence through a petition under § 2254 on the ground that the prior conviction was unconstitutionally obtained.” Id. at 403-04, 121 S.Ct. 1567 (citation omitted).

Here, it is undisputed that Alford’s 1979 conviction is stale. Additionally, it is undisputed that Alford chose not to seek available relief while serving his sentence for the 1979 conviction. After his first direct appeal to the 1979…