United States v. Carlos Cegledi, 3rd Cir. (2015)
United States v. Carlos Cegledi, 3rd Cir. (2015)
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OPINION*
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HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge.
Carlos Cegledi appeals the District Courts order denying his motion under 28
U.S.C. 2255. We will affirm.
I
In 2009, Cegledi was tried on drug trafficking charges. During the trial, the
Government relied heavily on the testimony of Antonio Pagan. Pagan admitted that he:
(1) had pleaded guilty to drug charges stemming from an April 2008 arrest; (2) was
cooperating with the Government; and (3) was awaiting sentencing. On crossexamination, Cegledis counsel, Guillermo Bosch, also asked about Pagans cooperation
with the Government, and Pagan again testified that he pleaded guilty to drug charges
and was awaiting sentencing.
In light of Pagans cooperation, the District Court provided the following standard
instructions to the jury:
Now you have heard evidence that Antonio Pagan has an
arrangement with the Government under which the Government will speak
on his behalf at his sentencing in exchange for his providing information to
the Government. Antonio Pagans testimony was received in evidence and
may be considered by you.
*
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does
not constitute binding precedent.
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U.S.C. 2255. The District Court denied that motion and Cegledis motion for
reconsideration. Cegledi timely appealed.1
II
In this appeal, Cegledi argues that his trial counsel, Bosch, provided ineffective
assistance by failing to object to the jury charge retraction and by failing to raise that
issue on direct appeal. The Government responds that Cegledis claim is time-barred and
fails on the merits. In assessing ineffective assistance claims, we apply the familiar twopart cause and prejudice test of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 688 (1984).
Our review of the record leads us to conclude that Cegledi was not prejudiced by
counsels allegedly deficient performance. In light of that conclusion, we need not
address either the Governments timeliness argument or the deficiency prong of
Cegledis Strickland claim. See id. at 697 ([T]here is no reason for a court deciding an
ineffective assistance claim to . . . address both components of the inquiry if the
defendant makes an insufficient showing on one. In particular, a court need not determine
whether counsels performance was deficient before examining the prejudice [prong.]).
In order to show prejudice under Strickland, the defendant must show that there
is a reasonable probability that, but for counsels unprofessional errors, the result of the
proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient
to undermine confidence in the outcome. United States v. Bui, 769 F.3d 831, 83435 (3d
Cir. 2014) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). The prejudice analysis is
slightly different where the alleged deficient performance results from counsels failure
to raise an issue for appellate review: The test for prejudice under Strickland is not
whether petitioners would likely prevail upon remand, but whether we would have likely
reversed and ordered a remand had the issue been raised on direct appeal. United States
v. Mannino, 212 F.3d 835, 844 (3d Cir. 2000).
Cegledi argues that Antonio Pagan was such an important witness that a seemingly
minor distinction like referring to Pagans guilty plea rather than conviction is enough to
undermine confidence in the outcome. He also claims that because the retraction came
after the original jury charge, both the original charge about Pagans motivation to lie and
Pagans testimony about his guilty plea on direct and cross-examination were effectively
nullified.
The ultimate issue under [the Strickland prejudice] test reduces to determining
what effect, if any, the erroneous instruction had on the jurys verdict. Whitney v. Horn,
280 F.3d 240, 258 (3d Cir. 2002). The Courts original jury instruction concerning Pagan
was 191 words. The much shorter retraction essentially deleted the last two sentences of
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the original charge that related to Pagan, thus leaving the bulk of the original instruction
intact. In what remained, the Court explained Pagans arrangement with the Government,
warned the jury to use great care and caution when considering Pagans testimony, and
expressly noted that Pagans testimony may have been influenced by his arrangement
with the Government. Regardless of whether Pagan was convicted or merely pleaded
guilty and was awaiting sentencing, the jury was well aware that Pagan had an incentive
to testify in a way that was favorable to the prosecution. Cegledis insistence that the
word conviction was essential and that the Courts terse retraction vitiated the lengthy
and detailed original instruction is unreasonable. [J]urors are presumed to follow the
instructions given [to] them by the court. Glenn v. Wynder, 743 F.3d 402, 407 (3d Cir.
2014). Accordingly, we decline Cegledis invitation to assume that the jury considered
only the two-line retraction and disregarded everything else they were told by the Court
about Pagans testimony.
In light of the multiple references to Pagans guilty plea during trial and the
District Courts jury charge explaining his deal with the Government, there is no
reasonable probability that the result would have been different had Bosch objected to the
retraction. Nor is it likely that we would have reversed and remanded if Bosch had raised
The Court acknowledges the pro bono counsel provided to Mr. Cegledi in this
appeal by the Duquesne University School of Law Federal Litigation Clinic and thanks
student advocates, Mary Hancock and Kristin L. Hravnak, for their skillful advocacy.
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