United States v. Haldon Gilkes

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 13-3646 ___________________________ United States of America lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee v. Haldon Gilkes lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Little Rock ____________ Submitted: January 20, 2015 Filed: February 19, 2015 [Unpublished] ____________ Before SMITH, GRUENDER, and BENTON, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. Haldon Gilkes is serving a five-year prison term after pleading guilty to a drug- conspiracy offense in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 846. He timely filed a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion, and the district court, without an evidentiary hearing, entered an order summarily denying his motion. This court granted Gilkes a certificate of appealability regarding his claim that his counsel was ineffective in failing to seek safety-valve relief under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f). On appeal, Gilkes asserts, among other things, that he met all of the requirements to be eligible for safety-valve relief, and consequently he should have received a lower sentence. In response, the government concedes that Gilkes met four of the five criteria for safety-valve relief, but contends that the record is unclear as to whether he met the fifth criterion, which involves truthfully providing information to the government concerning the offense or related offenses. Accordingly, the government suggests that a remand to develop the record would be appropriate. Accordingly, we vacate the district court’s order as to this claim only, and we remand the case to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. ______________________________ -2-