Court Opinion

ID: 2964096
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:20:26.697161+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:42:50.365112
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

          June 6, 1996          [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

                                 ____________________

          No. 95-1861

                                    UNITED STATES,

                                      Appellee,

                                          v.

                               FRANCISCO PEREZ-REYNOSO,

                                Defendant, Appellant.

                                 ____________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                           FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

                    [Hon. Hector M. Laffitte, U.S. District Judge]
                                              ___________________

                                 ____________________

                                        Before

                                Selya, Cyr and Boudin,
                                   Circuit Judges.
                                   ______________

                                 ____________________

               Francisco A. Perez Reynoso on brief pro se.
               __________________________
               Kevin G. Little on Anders brief for appellant.
               _______________    ______

                                 ____________________

                                 ____________________

                      Per Curiam.  Francisco Perez Reynoso pled guilty to
                      __________

            possession of cocaine with  intent to distribute in violation

            of 46 U.S.C.  App.   1903(a)(b)(1) and (f) and  18 U.S.C.   2

            and   was sentenced to 108  months in prison.   He then filed

            this appeal.  Appellate  counsel has now filed a  brief under

            Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), asserting the lack
            ______    __________

            of any  meritorious  ground  for appeal,  and  has  moved  to

            withdraw  as counsel.   Perez has filed  a separate appellate

            brief  and other  materials challenging  his guilty  plea and

            sentence.  Because the appeal presents no meritorious issues,

            we affirm Perez's conviction and sentence and grant counsel's

            motion to withdraw.           I.  Challenge to Guilty Plea
                                              ________________________

                      Perez contends, in substance,  that his guilty plea

            was not voluntarily and knowingly entered.  He claims that he

            never agreed  to plead guilty  in exchange  for a  government

            recommendation  that he  receive  a ten-year,  rather than  a

            seven-year, sentence.  He says in his appellate brief that he

            did not know that his recommended sentence would be ten years

            until  he was in the  plea hearing; in  a different appellate

            submission,  he states that  he did not know  he faced a ten-

            year sentence until he signed his plea agreement.  Perez also

            claims that the government promised to recommend a seven-year

            sentence if he cooperated and that his first counsel had been

            negotiating a  seven-year plea agreement when  threats by his

            co-defendants made him obtain her dismissal.

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                      We assess  those claims  in light of  the following

            factors:  their plausibility, the timing of Perez's challenge

            to his  guilty plea;  whether he  asserts his  innocence; and

            whether his plea  was involuntary, in  derogation of Rule  11

            requirements,  or otherwise  legally  suspect.    See  United
                                                              ___  ______

            States v.  Lopez-Pineda, 55 F.2d  693, 696 (1st  Cir.), cert.
            ______     ____________                                 _____

            denied, 116 S. Ct. 259 (1995).  All of those factors indicate
            ______

            that Perez's guilty plea should be sustained.  

                      The record does not support Perez's contention that

            his  plea  was not  voluntarily  or knowingly  entered.   The

            record shows that Perez knew the government would recommend a

            ten-year sentence before he pled  guilty.  The plea agreement

            he signed  before pleading guilty explicitly  stated that the
                       ______

            government would  recommend a  120-month sentence  (i.e., ten

            years).   His attorney's alleged failure to tell him that the

            recommended  sentence would  be ten  rather than  seven years

            until right  before  he signed  the plea  agreement does  not

            warrant invalidating  his subsequent  guilty plea.   Since he

            knew by the  time of  the plea hearing  that his  recommended

            sentence was ten  years, he  did not reasonably  rely on  any

            earlier representation regarding a  seven-year recommendation

            in  pleading guilty.  Finally, as the plea agreement and plea

            hearing  transcript make  clear,  Perez knew  before he  pled

            guilty  that the only terms and  conditions applicable to his

            guilty  plea  were  those   contained  in  his  written  plea

                                         -3-

            agreement.   Thus,  he knew  that any  verbal representations

            concerning  a seven-year sentence,  allegedly made in earlier

            discussions between the government and his first counsel, did

            not apply.  

                      Consideration  of  the  other  factors  cited above

            shows  as well that Perez's guilty  plea should be sustained.

            As noted, Perez never  asked the district court to  allow him

            to withdraw his guilty plea; hence, his  present challenge is

            very belated.   Moreover, he  does not assert  his innocence,

            but only that he did not want to plead guilty  if he received

            a ten-year sentence.  He has not alleged that his guilty plea

            was  coerced; indeed, in his  plea agreement and  at his plea

            hearing,  he stated  that it  was not  coerced.   He  has not

            alleged  that he did not  understand the charges  to which he

            pled  guilty.   Lastly,  the plea  hearing  was conducted  in

            conformity with the requirements of Fed. R. Crim. P. 11.

                      II.  Challenge to Sentencing
                           _______________________

                      On appeal,  Perez suggests  that  his base  offense

            level should have been less than 31 for two reasons.  He says

            that he was a minimal,  not just a minor, participant in  the

            offense  to which  he  pled guilty.    See U.  S.  Sentencing
                                                   ___

            Guideline    3B1.2(a) & (b).   He also claims that mitigating

            circumstances  warranted a lower base offense level.  

                      In part, Perez is  asking us to relieve him  of the

            concessions  he made in his  plea agreement --  that his base

                                         -4-

            offense level would be 31, that he was a  minor (not minimal)

            participant,  and that  no  further adjustments  to his  base

            offense level would be made -- which we perceive no basis for

            doing.  We also note that the sentencing transcript indicates

            that Perez  had ample opportunity to  describe his mitigating

            circumstances at sentencing and that the court was influenced

            by his  allocution.   The court  imposed the lowest  sentence

            possible  given  Perez's  sentencing  guideline  range  --  a

            sentence  which was  twelve months  lower than the  one Perez

            agreed to in his plea agreement.  Perez did not ask the court

            to depart downward from the sentencing guideline range.

                      We affirm  appellant's conviction and  sentence and
                      ___________________________________________________

            grant appellate counsel's motion to withdraw.
            _____________________________________________

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