Opinion ID: 754758
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendant Riley's Sentence

Text: 48 Defendant Riley argues that the District Court erred when it failed to make a factual finding of the specific amount of controlled substances attributable to him. He asks us to vacate his sentence and remand for determination of the amount of drugs for which he, as opposed to the conspiracy in general, should be held responsible. 49 The presentence report (PSR) prepared for defendant Riley stated that [t]he defendant is being held accountable for at least 5 kilograms of cocaine but less than 15 kilograms of cocaine, which results in a base offense level of 32. Riley filed no written objections to any of the calculations in the PSR. At the sentencing, Riley's counsel successfully argued against a statutory enhancement under 21 U.S.C. § 841, but all parties agreed that Riley was not challenging the calculation in the PSR that between five and fifteen kilograms of cocaine were attributed to Riley. 50 When a defendant fails to object to an error at sentencing, he forfeits his right to raise that error on appeal. See, e.g., United States v. Dobish, 102 F.3d 760, 762 (6th Cir.1996) (per curiam); United States v. Tosca, 18 F.3d 1352, 1355 (6th Cir.1994). By failing to object to the PSR's calculation of the amount of drugs for which he was accountable, defendant has failed to preserve that issue for appeal.I. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel 51 On appeal, defendants Riley and Kincaide each assert for the first time that his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel was violated in the course of his trial. Defendant Riley argues that his counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to move for a mistrial after Defendant Kincaide's bizarre conduct prompted the District Court to state that it would be receptive to a mistrial motion. Riley also finds fault in his counsel's decision to stipulate to the name and nature of his prior felony conviction. Kincaide argues that his appointed counsel was ineffective because he rested without calling any of the witnesses that Kincaide would have called on his own behalf. 52 Unless the record on appeal is adequate to assess the merits of the defendants' allegations, we will not address an ineffective assistance of counsel claim raised for the first time on direct appeal. E.g., United States v. Tucker, 90 F.3d 1135, 1143 (6th Cir.1996); United States v. Snow, 48 F.3d 198 (6th Cir.1995).  'Ineffective assistance of counsel claims are best brought by a defendant in a post-conviction proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 so that the parties can develop an adequate record on the issue.'  United States v. Seymour, 38 F.3d 261, 263 (6th Cir.1994) (quoting United States v. Daniel, 956 F.2d 540, 543 (6th Cir.1992)). 53 The record before us is insufficient to allow us to assess the merits of defendant Riley's assertions of error. In particular, the claim that his counsel erred by deciding not to respond to the District Court's overtures for a motion seeking a mistrial could benefit from a more complete record. When the record is insufficient to show whether the alleged wrongful acts could be considered sound trial strategy, we will not review the defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claims for the first time on direct appeal. Snow, 48 F.3d at 199. 54 In contrast, the record allows us to appraise the merits of defendant Kincaide's allegation that he was denied effective assistance of counsel. His claim rests entirely upon the allegation that his stand-by counsel erred when he rested without calling any of the witnesses identified by defendant Kincaide. Defendant Kincaide asserts that this was particularly prejudicial because his counsel then submitted to the jury a defense theory that defendant had developed. 55 To succeed on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, Kincaide bears the two burdens that the Supreme Court identified in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984): 56 First, the defendant must show that his counsel's performance was deficient. This requires showing that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the 'counsel' guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Second, the defendant must show that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. This requires showing that counsel's errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable. 57 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052. We have elaborated on these burdens, explaining that the threshold issue is not whether [defendant's] attorney was inadequate; rather it is whether he was so manifestly ineffective that defeat was snatched from the hands of probable victory. United States v. Morrow, 977 F.2d 222, 229 (6th Cir.1992) (en banc). 58 Kincaide fails to explain how any of the twenty people on his witness list were at all relevant to the theory of the case that his counsel submitted to the jury. Before trial, the District Court indicated that it would not receive testimony from four of the witnesses, whom Kincaide would call to testify about the lingering mental effects of slavery in the United States. The Court stated that it could not yet rule on five other witnesses, three of whom were psychologists. Of the remaining witnesses, Kincaide indicated that six or seven of these witnesses were his relatives, two more were attorneys, and two others would not be called. At trial Kincaide submitted a defense theory challenging the sufficiency of the evidence. The record shows that none of the witnesses on Kincaide's list was at all relevant to this defense theory. We conclude that Kincaide's trial counsel was not constitutionally deficient when he rested without calling witnesses who were irrelevant to Kincaide's defense theory.