Case: 19-30159 Document: 00515682980 Page: 1 Date Filed: 12/22/2020 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED December 22, 2020 No. 19-30159 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk United States of America, Plaintiff—Appellee, versus Jarvis Hardy, Defendant—Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana USDC No. 2:16-CR-26-1 Before Dennis, Southwick, and Ho, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Jarvis Hardy appeals from the district court’s denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM. I. Following a months-long Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) investigation into the drug-trafficking activities of Jarvis Hardy, law * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4. Case: 19-30159 Document: 00515682980 Page: 2 Date Filed: 12/22/2020 No. 19-30159 enforcement officers secured an arrest warrant for Hardy and a search warrant for his residence. On the morning of January 26, 2016, officers went to Hardy’s house to execute the warrants. After knocking and announcing their presence at Hardy’s home and receiving no response, the officers used a battering ram to forcibly gain entry. Upon entry, the officers again announced their identity as “police.” As the officers approached his bedroom, Hardy fired several shots, striking DEA Task Force Officer Stephen Arnold1 in the neck and arm. Officers arrested Hardy at the scene and recovered the following items from his home: crack cocaine; currency in a safe in Hardy’s bedroom; drug trafficking paraphernalia; and two firearms, including the weapon used to shoot Officer Arnold. Office Arnold survived the shooting but is completely incapacitated, requiring twenty-four-hour care in an assisted-living facility. Hardy was charged in a superseding indictment with the following nine counts: conspiracy to distribute controlled substances (count 1), four counts of distribution of cocaine base (counts 2-5), attempted murder of a federal agent (count 6), discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and a drug trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A) (count 7), possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (count 8), and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in violation of § 924(c)(1)(A) (count 9). Several charges carried mandatory minimum sentences. Specifically, count 1 carried a ten-year mandatory minimum, count 7 carried a consecutive ten-year mandatory minimum, and count 8 carried five years. Under the law at the time of Hardy’s superseding indictment, had he been convicted of the § 924(c) 1 Arnold was a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Detective who had been deputized as a DEA Task Force Officer. 2 Case: 19-30159 Document: 00515682980 Page: 3 Date Filed: 12/22/2020 No. 19-30159 violation under count 7, a second § 924(c) conviction under count 9 would have triggered an additional, consecutive sentence of at least twenty-five years. Compare § 924(c)(1)(C)(i) (2006), with §924(c)(1)(C)(i) (2018); see United States v. Chapman, 851 F.3d 363, 373 ...
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