Opinion ID: 166630
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel and Commerce Clause Claims

Text: 16 Mr. Calderon concedes that none of his claims on appeal were raised below, and argues this is because of ineffective assistance of counsel. However, Mr. Calderon does not argue that Attorney Breeze rendered ineffective assistance of counsel in his handling of any specific portion of the proceedings below, including in his handling of the plea agreement. Mr. Calderon simply alleges that Attorney Breeze rendered ineffective assistance in his handling of the appeal by not pursuing claims under Booker and related cases in his Anders brief, and by submitting the Anders brief itself. 17 Ineffective assistance of counsel claims should be brought in collateral proceedings, not on direct appeal. Such claims brought on direct appeal are presumptively dismissible, and virtually all will be dismissed. United States v. Galloway, 56 F.3d 1239, 1240 (10th Cir.1995); see also Massaro v. United States, 538 U.S. 500, 504-05, 123 S.Ct. 1690, 155 L.Ed.2d 714 (2003) (In light of the way our system has developed, in most cases a motion brought under § 2255 is preferable to direct appeal for deciding claims of ineffective-assistance.). Therefore, even if Mr. Calderon had adequately alleged that he was denied effective assistance of counsel in the lower court, this Court would not address such a claim here. 18 In addition, we decline to consider Mr. Calderon's claim that the Controlled Substances Act violates the Commerce Clause. Because Mr. Calderon failed to raise this issue in the court below, he may not raise the issue on appeal, absent plain error. Walker v. Mather (In re Walker), 959 F.2d 894, 896 (10th Cir.1992). We doubt that the Commerce Clause challenge to the Controlled Substances Act would succeed under any standard of review, see Gonzales v. Raich, ___ U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 2195, 162 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005) (holding that the regulation of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act was squarely within Congress's commerce power), but it certainly does not qualify as plain error.