Professional Documents
Culture Documents
United States v. Santiago-Rivera, 1st Cir. (2015)
United States v. Santiago-Rivera, 1st Cir. (2015)
Before
Lynch, Selya, and Stahl,
Circuit Judges.
November 9, 2015
change
of
plea
hearing,
held
on
Santiago-Rivera stated
at the hearing that he had not recently been treated for mental
illness, that he did not then have any psychiatric or psychological
conditions, that he felt well physically and mentally, and that he
believed that he understood the proceedings.
Santiago-Rivera's
the
proceedings.
magistrate
judge
determined
After
that
further
questioning,
Santiago-Rivera's
plea
- 3 -
the
was
The
The district
court obliged and heard the defendant and counsel, permitting them
to explain at length the specific reasons why Santiago-Rivera
wished to withdraw his guilty plea.
Santiago-Rivera's
counsel,
who
insisted
that
his
plea
was
The
We will not.
On appeal, he
would have us credit that "[t]he district court denied him the
opportunity to present [his] proof."
- 4 -
United States v. Santiago Miranda, 654 F.3d 130, 137 (1st Cir.
2011), we find that the district court acted well within its
discretion in denying a further evidentiary hearing beyond what
was already done at sentencing.
We also decline to remand for an evidentiary hearing on
Santiago-Rivera's ineffective assistance of counsel claim.
is
not
one
of
those
rare
cases
that
presents
This
"special
United States v.
maximums,
see
18
U.S.C.
2251(e),
2252(b)(2).
his
prejudicial.
plea.
more
the
"error"
was
neither
plain
nor
But
than
term
of
life
imprisonment,
- 5 -
notwithstanding
his
also
recognize
the
severe
prejudice
that
the
43,
government
52
if
(1st
the
Cir.
2009)
withdrawal
(identifying
is
allowed"
"prejudice
as
factor
to
to
- 6 -
the
be
We