Source: http://openjurist.org/453/f3d/520/united-states-v-shah
Timestamp: 2013-05-24 07:55:37
Document Index: 299058709

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453 F3d 520 United States v. Shah | OpenJurist
453 F. 3d 520 - United States v. Shah	Home453 f3d 520 united states v. shah
453 F3d 520 United States v. Shah 453 F.3d 520
UNITED STATES of America, Appelleev.Shashi SHAH, Appellant.
Under Rule 11(d)(2)(B) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, a district court may grant a presentence motion to withdraw a guilty plea if "the defendant can show a fair and just reason." Although motions to withdraw a guilty plea before sentencing are often granted, relief is not a matter of right. United States v. Loughery, 908 F.2d 1014, 1017 (D.C.Cir.1990). The district court's rejection of a withdrawal motion is reviewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Cray, 47 F.3d 1203, 1206 (D.C.Cir.1995); United States v. Ford, 993 F.2d 249, 251 (D.C.Cir.1993). Reversal is "uncommon." Loughery, 908 F.2d at 1017.
Shah's argument — if not his affidavit — amounts to a claim that the defect in the taking of his plea consisted of his committing perjury when, under oath, he acknowledged the truth of the factual recitals in the plea agreement and in the government's proffer. Lying to a court is not a "fair and just reason," FED. R. CRIM. P. 11(d)(2)(B), for allowing a plea to be withdrawn. See United States v. Peterson, 414 F.3d 825, 827 (7th Cir.2005); United States v. Stewart, 198 F.3d 984, 987 (7th Cir.1999). A "motion that can succeed only if the defendant committed perjury at the plea proceedings may be rejected out of hand unless the defendant has a compelling explanation for the contradiction." Peterson, 414 F.3d at 827. Shah offers no such explanation. The most one can glean from his affidavit, and from his former attorney's, is that he lied because he expected to benefit from a government departure letter. But that is no explanation at all. Guilty pleas, pursuant to an agreement, usually confer some benefit on defendants as compared to their going to trial. It does not follow that defendants therefore have a compelling reason to commit perjury in the plea proceedings. The district court acted within its discretion in denying Shah's motion for these reasons, see Shah, 263 F.Supp.2d at 24.*
As to his sentence, Shah claims that a preponderance of the evidence did not support the district court's enhancement of his offense level pursuant to § 3B1.1(c) of the Guidelines, which provides: "If the defendant was an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor in any criminal activity other than described in (a) or (b) [above], increase [his base offense level] by 2 levels." According to the application notes, "[t]o qualify for an adjustment under this section, the defendant must have been the organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor of one or more other participants." UNITED STATES SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 3B1.1 cmt. n. 2. A "participant" is "a person who is criminally responsible for the commission of the offense, but need not have been convicted." Id. § 3B1.1 cmt. n. 1. Citing United States v. Graham, 162 F.3d 1180, 1183 (D.C.Cir.1998), the district court reasoned that § 3B1.1(c) was "intended for those supervising `relatively confined criminal activity.'" Shah, 263 F.Supp.2d at 30. Factors to be considered in determining whether a defendant qualifies for the adjustment include whether there is evidence that he recruited accomplices. Graham, 162 F.3d at 1185 (quoting United States v. Thomas, 114 F.3d 228, 261 (D.C.Cir.1997)).
Shah contends that "recruitment alone is insufficient" to support application of § 3B1.1(c), but the record demonstrates that Shah did considerably more. Shah told the informant that not only had he recruited others to "mule," but also that he "had people swallow [heroin] before, th[at] Victor [Valles] has gone 3 or 4 times for him." Thus, even if we assume arguendo that Shah's involvement with Cruz alone was insufficient to trigger § 3B1.1(c), the district court's finding was not clearly erroneous, which is the standard of review. United States v. Stover, 329 F.3d 859, 871 (D.C. Cir.2003).
Shah also claims that insufficient evidence supported the district court's finding that Valles or Cruz were participants in the same drug conspiracy to which he pled guilty. Because he failed to raise this point in the district court, it is subject to review under the plain-error standard. As in the related context of United States v. Mellen, 393 F.3d 175, 184 (D.C.Cir.2004), it was incumbent upon the district court to find that any supervisory role Shah played with respect to Cruz was within the scope of a conspiracy charged in the information. Shah pled guilty to conspiring to import heroin into New York from Nepal and Thailand, and to conspiring to possess it with intent to distribute it, between 1994 and August 1998. Cruz died on May 5, 1997, after ingesting heroin while smuggling it from Nepal to New York. Shah tried unsuccessfully to get him to pass the heroin in New York. On this record, it was not plainly erroneous for the district court to infer that Cruz died "muling" heroin as part of the same drug conspiracy to which Shah pled guilty.
Shah seeks a limited remand under United States v. Coles, 403 F.3d 764 (D.C.Cir.2005), to determine whether the district court would impose a lesser sentence under an advisory Guidelines regime. The government does not object and the district court's sentence at the low end of the Guidelines range supports Shah's position.
For the same reasons, we have no difficulty finding that the district court acted within its discretion in denying Shah's motion for an evidentiary hearing
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