Case Explained: FinalOpinion in case# 25-2081

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Filed: 2026-08-07 The seventh-circuit affirmed the denial of Terry Ferguson’s motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate his sentence based on ineffective assistance of counsel due to an alleged conflict of interest, and dismissed his appeal challenging the denial of motions to dismiss the indictment for selective or vindictive prosecution as waived by his plea agreement. Regarding the ineffective assistance claim, the court applied the standard requiring a defendant to show both an actual conflict of interest that adversely affected counsel’s performance. The court found no such conflict existed at the time of Ferguson’s plea and sentencing in 2023, noting there was no evidence an investigation into his attorney was ongoing five years after the initial solicitation for cooperation. Furthermore, even assuming a conflict existed, Ferguson failed to demonstrate a reasonable likelihood that his counsel’s performance would have been different absent the conflict, as he offered only speculation regarding alternative plea strategies and failed to identify specific instances where his lawyer could have acted differently. Regarding the appeal of the dismissal motions, the court applied the standard for enforcing appellate waivers in plea agreements, which must be knowing and voluntary. The court held that Ferguson’s written waiver, which explicitly limited appeals to the validity of the guilty plea and the sentence imposed while barring challenges to pretrial rulings on motions, was clear and unambiguous. Because Ferguson’s claims regarding selective or vindictive prosecution fell outside the scope of the waived issues and he failed to argue against enforcement in his briefs, the court enforced the waiver. The practical consequence is that the judgment denying the § 2255 motion is affirmed, leaving the conviction and sentence intact, while the appeal challenging the denial of the motions to dismiss is dismissed with prejudice based on the appellate waiver. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.