Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Not Precedential
Not Precedential
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
lied when they stated that they found the firearm on his person, and that it was in fact
recovered from the wheel well of a nearby car.
The District Court denied Appellants motion to withdraw his plea, finding that he
had not met his burden of showing sufficiently strong reasons to justify the withdrawal.
The Court credited his sworn testimony of his guilt from his prior court appearances over
his unsworn recantations of his plea through his attorney, and found that he had not
demonstrated that his original counsel had given him incorrect legal advice, or coerced
him to plead guilty.
We review a district courts ruling on a motion to withdraw a guilty plea for abuse
of discretion. United States v. Siddons, 660 F.3d 699, 703 (3d Cir. 2011). A district
court has the discretion to permit a defendant to withdraw a guilty plea prior to
sentencing if the defendant can show a fair and just reason for requesting the
withdrawal. Fed. R. Crim. Pr. 11(d)(2)(B). When determining whether a defendant
has shown a fair and just reason for withdrawing a guilty plea, a district court must
consider whether: (1) the defendant asserts his innocence; (2) the defendant proffered
strong reasons justifying the withdrawal; and (3) the government would be prejudiced by
the withdrawal. Siddons, 660 F.3d at 703. Assertions of innocence must be buttressed
by facts in the record that support a claimed defense. Id. A shift in defense tactics, a
change of mind, or the fear of punishment are not adequate reasons to impose on the
government the expense, difficulty, and risk of trying a defendant who has already
acknowledged his guilt by pleading guilty. Id. at 703 (quoting United States v. Jones,
336 F.3d 245, 252 (3d Cir. 2003)).
3
Appellant failed to carry his burden of demonstrating a fair and just reason
sufficient to justify permitting him to withdraw his guilty plea. While Appellant asserted
his innocence, he did not corroborate that claim with objective evidence, such as
statements from other witnesses or other tangible evidence. The District Court
reasonably credited his previous admission of guilt under oath over his later recantations
of that admission while not under oath namely, by way of a proffer through his
attorney.
The District Court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting Appellants contention
that his original trial counsel was ineffective. A court will permit a defendant to
withdraw a guilty plea based on ineffective assistance of counsel only if (1) the defendant
shows that his attorneys advice was under all the circumstances unreasonable under
prevailing professional norms, and (2) the defendant shows that he suffered sufficient
prejudice from his counsels errors. Jones, 336 F.3d at 253-54 (internal citations
omitted). Appellant argues that he pled guilty to the gun possession charge despite his
innocence because his counsel advised him that he had no chance of winning at trial, and
that the District Court judge had stacked the deck in favor of the prosecutor. However,
this advice was reasonable. At trial, the Government would have presented the
eyewitness testimony of two police officers who would have stated that they saw
Appellant engage in a drug transaction, and found a gun and drugs on his person upon
stopping him. The jury would have likely believed the testimony of the two police
officers over the Appellant, a convicted felon, particularly because Appellant provided no
reason why the officers would have framed him for the crime, or how they would have
4
known to look for the firearm in the wheel well of a nearby vehicle. Appellant faced 25
years to life imprisonment if convicted by a jury. Additionally, the Government had
agreed to drop the drug possession charges against him in exchange for a guilty plea on
the gun possession charge.
In Government of the Virgin Islands v. Berry, we affirmed a district courts denial
of a defendants motion to withdraw his guilty plea. 631 F.2d 214, 221 (3d Cir. 1980).
The defendant argued that he submitted the plea because his counsel mistakenly assumed
that the defendants co-conspirator would testify against him at his own trial, which he
did not. Id. Despite acknowledging this tactical mistake on counsels part, the district
court refused to let him withdraw the plea, and we agreed. Id. We see no miscalculation
or tactical mistake here; rather, counsels advice to Appellant was sound. Therefore, not
only was counsels advice that he take the plea reasonable, it was not an error that caused
him any prejudice. Additionally, Appellant put forward no other evidence that his
counsel exerted coercive pressure on him to plead guilty.
Because Appellant has not met his burden under either of the first two Siddons
factors, the Government did not need to demonstrate that it would have been prejudiced
by the withdrawal of his guilty plea. See Jones, 336 F.3d at 255; United States v. Harris,
44 F.3d 1206, 1210 (3d Cir. 1995). Therefore, we will affirm.