Plea Withdrawal

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Zenon Grzegorczyk v. United States of America

Case No.: 18-3340

Officials: KANNE, SCUDDER, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Plea Withdrawal

In the spring of 2012, Zenon Grzegorczyk hired two men to kill his ex-wife and five of her friends in exchange for $48,000. Fortunately, his plan was destined to fail—the two men he sought out for the task were undercover law enforcement officers. A grand jury returned a four-count indictment charging him with three counts of using a facility of interstate commerce with intent that murder be committed (“murder-for-hire”) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1958(a), and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). In July 2014, pursuant to a written plea agreement with the government, Grzegorczyk pled guilty to one count of murder-for-hire and the firearm charge. The district court sentenced him to 151 months in prison for the murder-for-hire count and a consecutive 60 months for the firearm count.

Grzegorczyk now seeks relief from his § 924(c) conviction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. But because he signed an unconditional plea agreement, the district court found his challenge waived and denied relief. We affirm.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is Associate Corporate Counsel, IP at Amazon.