Opinion ID: 70806
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: analysis

Text: 5 The District Court based its decision on Ferguson v. United States, 699 F.2d 1071 (11th Cir.1983). In Ferguson, the Court recognized that the failure of an attorney to file an appeal after a trial, where the defendant requests such an appeal, constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel. Id. at 1073. The Court held, however, that the failure by counsel to file an appeal after a guilty plea does not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel. Id. The Court noted that a defendant who pleads guilty generally has no right to a direct appeal, and so suffers no harm where counsel fails to file an appeal. 6 Ferguson was decided in 1983, prior to the Sentencing Guidelines. Under the Guidelines, Martin has the right to directly appeal the sentence even though he pled guilty. See Montemoino v. United States, 68 F.3d 416, 417 (11th Cir.1995). Because a defendant has the right to directly appeal a sentence pursuant to the Sentencing Guidelines, the defendant is precluded from raising Guidelines issues in collateral proceedings under § 2255. Id. Thus, under the Guidelines, a defendant is prejudiced where his attorney fails to file an appeal after being requested to do so, even after the defendant pled guilty. In this situation, the defendant is entitled to an out-of-time appeal, even without showing whether or not there are any viable grounds for such an appeal.