Opinion ID: 2670174
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Misinformation about Sentencing Guidelines

Text: Mr. Knittel also argues that his counsel was deficient because he inaccurately predicted Mr. Knittel’s criminal history calculation under the Sentencing Guidelines.5 We agree with the district court that Mr. Knittel has failed to demonstrate either (1) deficient performance or (2) prejudice on this issue. First, our general rule is that “a miscalculation or erroneous sentence estimation by a defense counsel is not a constitutionally deficient performance rising to the level of 5 Although Mr. Knittel’s appellate brief only raises this argument in passing, Mr. Knittel originally raised this claim in his § 2255 petition before the district court and does revive it on appeal. See Pet. Br. at 21 (“Are you telling me, standby counsel does not have an ethical obligation to inform defendant of what the statutes say, concerning sentencing guidelines.”); see also id. at 25 (describing what Mr. Knittel’s counsel had told him about the Guidelines). - 12 - ineffective assistance of counsel.” United States v. Washington, 619 F.3d 1252, 1258-59 (10th Cir. 2010) (quotations omitted). Second, even if Mr. Knittel’s counsel was deficient on this score, Mr. Knittel fails to show a reasonable probability of a different result if his counsel had correctly calculated his criminal history. Mr. Knittel acknowledged at his plea hearing that he understood the trial court, not his counsel, would determine his Guidelines sentence. See Dist. Ct. Order at 4-5. Thus, he fails to show how he was prejudiced by his counsel’s sentencing miscalculation. See United States v. Taylor, 454 F.3d 1075, 1080 (10th Cir. 2006) (“Here, even if we assume that counsel's performance was deficient in estimating the sentencing range, Mr. Taylor has not shown that he was prejudiced by the failure.”). Jurists of reason could not debate the correctness of the district court’s holding that Mr. Knittel is not entitled to relief on this claim. We therefore deny COA on this issue.