Gerald Byrd

General background information I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, raised by my grandparents. The oldest of my mother’s five children, I was at times a father figure for them. My father was killed when I was 2 years old by his father. Due to a strained relationship between my mother and my father’s family, I have no relationship with my father’s family. My grandparents were hardworking and instilled a great work ethic in me. I grew up reading books from a public library. My grandfather encouraged my brothers and I to read. I was a decent student in school and was placed in Honors class in high school, maintaining a 3.1 G.P.A. And then adolescent experimentation with marijuana began and along came its accompanying academic decline. I managed to graduate with a 1.9 G.P.A. and made a short-lived effort at enrolling in Wayne County Community College. Having been constructively fired from a valet parking job and feeling the harsh reality of adult responsibilities, I opted to take the costly short cut to financial stability, i.e., drug-dealing. While selling drugs I encountered some people that would forever change the course of my life. A man’s dislike led him to provoke me to kill him in Self-defense, after trying to reason with the man.

Case background  I am convicted of 2nd Degree Murder and Felony Firearm, Felonious Assault and I’m serving a 25.5 – 45-year sentence of which I have served 13 years, 10 months. As it stands now, I am currently preparing my federal habeas corpus petition raising two issues alleging violations of my 6th Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel under United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648 (1984) and Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335 (1980). The claims arise from my trial counsel representing me during a Motion to Withdraw Guilty Plea Hearing where he did not argue the motion at all, only denying the allegations of pressuring me into pleading guilty that the motion was premised on. I also have an actual innocence challenge to a prior conviction that was used to enhance my sentencing guidelines on my 2nd Degree Murder sentence. If successful, I will be able to get resentenced.