Doerer

BACKGROUND

In 2008, a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia indicted Petitioner on three counts: (1) witness tampering by murder, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1)(A), (a)(2)(A); (2) witness retaliation by murder, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1513(a)(1)(B), (a)(2)(A); and (3) murder using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), (j)(1). See Petition at 2; United States v. Adams, No. 08- 176 (E.D. Va.) (“Adams I”), Dkt. 7. In exchange for the government’s assurance not to seek the death penalty, Petitioner pleaded guilty to all three counts and agreed to a sentence of life imprisonment. See Adams I, Dkts. 17, 29. In June 2016, Petitioner moved under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate his § 924(c) conviction pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. 591 (2015). See Adams I, Dkt. 48. The district court granted the government’s motion to dismiss because the Supreme Court had not yet addressed the constitutionality of § 924(c)(3)(B), and Petitioner therefore did not fall within the statute of limitations exception. See Adams I, Dkt. 56. Petitioner appealed…