Opinion ID: 781706
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Strickland Claim

Text: 31 Because the plea process and period of cooperation are critical stages of a criminal proceeding, Leonti was guaranteed the effective assistance of counsel. See Kirby, 406 U.S. at 689-90, 92 S.Ct. 1877. Leonti claims he was deprived of this right because Kaplan, his attorney, failed to properly advise him to plead guilty at the appropriate time, and failed to properly manage Leonti's attempts at cooperating with the government. To prevail on his ineffective assistance claim, Leonti must show that (1) his attorney's performance was unreasonable under prevailing professional standards, and (2) there is a reasonable probability that but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result would have been different. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687-91, 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome. Id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052.
32 First, Leonti alleges that Kaplan rendered ineffective assistance by failing to advise him to plead guilty immediately after his arrest. Leonti claims that he was ready and willing to cooperate at this point, and that Kaplan's failure to assist him in doing so prejudiced him. 33 Even if the facts alleged by Leonti are true, Kaplan's conduct in this regard did not constitute ineffective assistance. Kaplan's reason for advising Leonti that he should not cooperate immediately, which he repeatedly stated to Leonti and which Leonti does not dispute, was that Kaplan wanted to review the discovery in the case before entering into a plea agreement. That decision was tactical, see id. at 689, 104 S.Ct. 2052, and cannot be called unreasonable. The American Bar Association standards advise defense attorneys that [u]nder no circumstances should a lawyer recommend to a defendant acceptance of a plea unless a full investigation and study of the case has been completed, including an analysis of controlling law and the evidence likely to be introduced at trial. ABA Standards for Criminal Justice 4-6.1(b). 34 Further, Leonti cannot show prejudice from this decision. While Leonti emphasizes the importance of pleading early for garnering substantial assistance departures, those advantages only accrue to defendants who are cooperating against other co-defendants accused of the same criminal enterprise. In those cases, pleading early is an advantage because if a defendant waits too long, he will be left with no one against whom he can provide evidence. See Fernandez, 2000 WL 534449, -. However, Leonti had been identified as the leader of the smuggling ring, so the government would likely not have been interested in Leonti's testimony against his co-defendants. The advantages of early cooperation are much less certain in a case, such as Leonti's, where a defendant seeks to cooperate against other unindicted individuals who are unaware of his impending cooperation. If Leonti had pled earlier, he would have been faced with the same barriers to cooperation that plagued him later on. Therefore, there is not a reasonable probability that an early plea would have garnered him a substantial assistance motion and a lighter sentence.
35 Leonti's allegations concerning Kaplan's conduct following the guilty plea are much more troubling. Leonti claims to have received little to no assistance from Kaplan during the period he was attempting to render substantial assistance to the government. The standard for granting an evidentiary hearing entails assuming the truth of Leonti's factual allegations, Schaflander, 743 F.2d at 716, and the facts alleged by Leonti show that Kaplan made no attempt to ascertain what the government wanted from Leonti, or how his cooperation might be carried out. Kaplan failed to appear at the proffer and debriefing sessions, and even failed to discuss the content of these sessions with Zenger or his client. More significantly, Kaplan failed to respond to Leonti's serious concerns regarding his inability to cooperate. When Leonti discovered limitations on his cooperation through discussions with federal agents, the record as presented by Leonti shows that Kaplan did nothing to try to facilitate the process. Not only did Kaplan fail to communicate with the federal agents or with the AUSA, he failed to communicate with his client to advise him of the appropriate course to maximize his chances for providing substantial assistance to the government. 36 Further, when Leonti expressed his frustration to Kaplan after a year had gone by with none of his efforts to cooperate coming to fruition, Kaplan told Leonti not to worry about his problems, because Muehleck had told Kaplan that Leonti would be called to testify at the grand jury. This never materialized, and the facts alleged by Leonti show that Kaplan never followed up with Muehleck, never tried to ascertain why Leonti was not called, or if he would be called in the future. In short, Kaplan never did anything to make it more likely that Leonti would in fact be able to provide substantial assistance. If Leonti's allegations are true, Kaplan was not functioning as the `counsel' guaranteed ... by the Sixth Amendment during Leonti's period of cooperation. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052. 37 An evidentiary hearing is required to resolve numerous factual issues upon which Leonti's ineffective assistance claim depends. There is insufficient evidence in the record to determine, for example, whether Kaplan's decision to fail to pursue a modification of Leonti's conditions of release that would allow him to remove his ankle bracelet was tactical, the extent to which Kaplan was unavailable during Leonti's cooperation, or whether Leonti's lack of cooperation resulted from his unwillingness to cooperate with the government's standard practices. 38 Should the hearing provide evidence that a drug deal could have been arranged with Kaplan's competent assistance, there is ample reason to think that the government would have recommended a downward departure, given its demonstrated interest in Leonti's information. The government took the unusual step of requesting that Leonti remain out on bail, so that he could be allowed to cooperate. Further, in making this request, Muehleck commented that Leonti had already provided substantial information. While the government has wide discretion in filing a substantial assistance motion, and the court has discretion in choosing to depart downward, to show prejudice Leonti need only show a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome that he could have received a downward departure for substantial assistance had Kaplan served as competent counsel. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052. The idea that Leonti could potentially make such a showing is not so palpably incredible or patently frivolous as to warrant summary dismissal. Schaflander, 743 F.2d at 717.