Opinion ID: 715778
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Relating to Jamison's Sentence for the Bolden Murder

Text: 56 Jamison argues that his counsel rendered ineffective assistance in failing to challenge the application of base offense level 43, under U.S.S.G. § 2A1.1, to the racketeering act involving his murder of James Bolden. He contends the base offense level should have been 33, under U.S.S.G. § 2A1.2. Section 2A1.1 is designed to apply to federal first degree murder, which is defined by 18 U.S.C. § 1111(a) to include premeditated murder. Under § 1111(a), any murder not classified as first degree murder is second degree murder. Guideline § 2A1.2, with its base offense level of 33, covers second degree murder. 57 One of the racketeering acts which Jamison was found guilty of was the crime of murder in the second degree under the law of New York, see N.Y.Penal Law § 125.25, which is New York's highest category of murder of general applicability. 9 New York law does not employ the concept of premeditated murder. Both the first degree and second degree murder statutes apply when the defendant has killed [w]ith intent to cause the death of another person. N.Y.Penal Law §§ 125.25, 125.27. 58 Jamison contends that the jury's finding that he killed with intent to cause death does not necessarily mean that he acted with premeditation. He argues further that the evidence supporting premeditation was weak, and that had the trial judge had this issue before him he might have thought it more appropriate to sentence Jamison under the guidelines for those convicted of federal second degree murder. Had the district court done so, Jamison's sentence might have been diminished considerably. 59 Jamison asks that we find his trial counsel's failure to raise this point constituted ineffective assistance of counsel, see Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), and remand--either for resentencing or, in the alternative, for a hearing on his claim. We may find ineffective assistance of counsel only upon determining that his trial counsel's behavior fell below an objective standard of reasonableness under prevailing professional norms, id. at 688, 104 S.Ct. at 2064-65, and that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different, id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2068. 60 Because this point was not raised in the district court, the record is undeveloped as to trial counsel's decisionmaking process at the time of sentencing. Although the potential advantages that might have resulted from contesting the application of § 2A1.1 are obvious, we cannot tell whether there were also potential disadvantages that led counsel to make a strategic decision not to raise it. Such considerations might include the possibility that, in addressing the issue of premeditation, the government would adduce evidence seriously damaging to the defendant's sentencing prospects. There is no reason to suppose that any such evidence possessed by the government had already been revealed. First, at a sentencing the government could rely on hearsay that was not admissible at trial. Second, since Jamison's co-defendants had been convicted and were awaiting sentencing, some of them might have been eager to cooperate by becoming witnesses against him. It is impossible for us to determine on this record whether counsel's behavior was objectively unreasonable. See United States v. DeFusco, 949 F.2d 114, 120-21 (4th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 997, 112 S.Ct. 1703, 118 L.Ed.2d 412 (1992). 61 Jamison suggests that under these circumstances the best course is a remand for a new hearing in which the district court would make factual findings relevant to his ineffective assistance claim. We disagree. Although we did note in Billy-Eko v. United States, 8 F.3d 111, 116 (2d Cir.1993), that where an ineffective assistance claim is brought before us in the first instance on a record insufficient to permit appellate adjudication, the court of appeals has the option to either remand the claim to the district court or leave the defendant to his post-conviction remedies by declining to rule on the claim, we did not suggest that remand is ordinarily the appropriate course. To the contrary, [t]his suggestion was certainly not stated ... as a mandatory requirement, and such claims are ordinarily pursued by a subsequent § 2255 petition. Riascos-Prado v. United States, 66 F.3d 30, 35 (2d Cir.1995); see United States v. Aulet, 618 F.2d 182, 185-86 (2d Cir.1980); see also United States v. McGill, 952 F.2d 16, 19 & n. 5 (1st Cir.1991). We do not find any extraordinary circumstance here that would justify departing from our usual practice. Cf. United States v. Tarricone, 996 F.2d 1414 (2d Cir.1993) (remanding for evidentiary hearing on direct appeal of conviction where ineffective assistance claim was raised in district court by new trial counsel on motion for new trial). 62 Jamison's decision to raise this claim on direct appeal, rather than waiting to bring it before the district court in the first instance on a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, is apparently driven by our statement in Billy-Eko that under certain circumstances new appellate counsel's failure to raise an ineffective assistance claim on direct appeal would constitute a procedural bar to later adjudication of that claim in a § 2255 proceeding. See Billy-Eko, 8 F.3d at 115. However, we noted that this rule would apply only where the record is fully developed on the ineffective assistance issue, generally because the claim is based solely on the record developed at trial. Id. That is not the case here. Although we decline to address Jamison's claim, we note that in doing so we do not in any way prejudice his opportunity to raise this argument in a subsequent § 2255 proceeding, in which he would have the opportunity to develop the underlying factual record. See McGill, 952 F.2d at 19 n. 5.