Court Opinion

ID: 2964117
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:20:50.664206+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:42:50.889020
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

                                [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

                                 ____________________

        No. 95-2123

                                  KENNETH BARTLETT,

                                Petitioner, Appellant,

                                          v.

                              UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                                Respondent, Appellee.

                                 ____________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                          FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

                [Hon. Walter Jay Skinner, Senior U.S. District Judge]
                                          __________________________

                                 ____________________

                                        Before

                                Torruella, Chief Judge,
                                           ___________
                            Cyr and Stahl, Circuit Judges.
                                           ______________

                                 ____________________

            Kenneth Bartlett on brief pro se.
            ________________
            Donald K. Stern, United States Attorney, and Thomas C. Frongillo,
            _______________                              ___________________
        Assistant United States Attorney, on brief for appellee.

                                 ____________________

                                     May 30, 1996
                                 ____________________

                      Per  Curiam.   Petitioner Kenneth  Bartlett appeals
                      ___________

            from  the  district  court's  summary denial  of  his  motion

            pursuant to  28 U.S.C.    2255.   We  affirm for  the reasons
                                                  ______

            given in the district court's Memorandum and Order dated June

            20, 1995.

                      We  add  the   following  comments  concerning  the

            district court's  failure to  hold an evidentiary  hearing to

            address  petitioner's  claim that  he  was  induced to  plead

            guilty by his attorney's  assurance that he would serve  only

            17  years.    Essentially,  petitioner's  argument  is   that

            counsel's  ineffective   assistance   in  promising   him   a

            particular  sentence if  he  pled guilty,  rendered his  plea

            involuntary.

                      "An evidentiary hearing is  required if the records

            and  files  in  the  case,  or  an  expanded  record,  cannot

            conclusively  resolve  substantial issues  of  material fact,

            'and  when  the  allegations  made, if  true,  would  require

            relief.'"  United  States v. Butt, 731 F.2d  75, 78 (1st Cir.
                       ______________    ____

            1984). "Ineffective assistance of  counsel may undermine  the

            voluntariness of  a guilty plea by  the defendant." Panzardi-
                                                                _________

            Alvarez v. United States,  879 F.2d 975, 982 (1st  Cir. 1989)
            _______    _____________

            (citing Hill  v. Lockhart,  474  U.S. 52,  56 (1985)),  cert.
                    ____     ________                               _____

            denied,  493  U.S.  1082   (1990).    The  two-prong  inquiry
            ______

            developed in  Strickland v. Washington, 466  U.S. 668 (1984),
                          __________    __________

            applies  in this context.  Therefore, to obtain relief on his

                                         -2-

            ineffective assistance claim,  Bartlett is  required to  show

            that counsel's assistance fell below an objective standard of

            reasonableness, and  that there is  a "reasonable probability
                            ___

            that,  but for  counsel's errors, he  would not  have pleaded

            guilty  and would have insisted on going to trial." Hill, 474
                                                                ____

            U.S. at 59. 

                      Petitioner  was  not  entitled  to  an  evidentiary

            hearing  because  he failed  adequately to  allege prejudice.

            Our  opinion in United States  v. LaBonte, 70  F.3d 1396 (1st
                            _____________     _______

            Cir.  1995),  is instructive.   In  Labonte, we  affirmed the
                                                _______

            district  court's  summary dismissal  of  a    2255  petition

            alleging  ineffective  assistance of  counsel.    One of  the

            grounds  for  denial  of  the  petition  was  its  "fail[ure]

            adequately to allege any  cognizable prejudice." Id. at 1413.
                                                             ___

            In his  brief, the appellant  had contended  "that his  trial

            attorney  assured him that his sentence would be no more than

            eighteen months, and that  there was simply 'no way'  that he

            would be  sentenced as a career offender pursuant to U.S.S.G.

               4B1.1." Id.   In  fact, the  district court  had sentenced
                       ___

            appellant  as  a  career  offender and  imposed  a  262-month

            sentence.

                      In finding that appellant had  failed adequately to

            allege prejudice, we ruled as follows:

                      An  attorney's  inaccurate prediction  of
                      his client's  probable sentence, standing
                      alone,  will  not  satisfy the  prejudice
                      prong of the ineffective assistance test.

                                         -3-

                      Similarly,   [appellant's]   self-serving
                      statements  that,  but for  his counsel's
                      inadequate advice he  would have  pleaded
                      not  guilty,  unaccompanied  by either  a
                      claim of innocence or the articulation of
                      any plausible defense that he  could have
                      raised had  he  opted  for  a  trial,  is
                      insufficient to  demonstrate the required
                      prejudice.

            LaBonte, 70 F.3d at 1413.
            _______

                      In this case, as in LaBonte, the attorney's alleged
                                          _______

            assurance that petitioner  would receive  a 17-year  sentence

            does  not  satisfy the  prejudice  prong  of the  ineffective

            assistance  test.   Similarly,  petitioner's  bare allegation

            that  his guilty  plea  "was based  on counsel's  ineffective

            advice,"   is   also   insufficient  to   allege   prejudice.

            Petitioner  has never  claimed innocence  or articulated  any

            defense that  he could have raised  if he had gone  to trial.

            Therefore,  petitioner   has  failed  adequately   to  allege

            prejudice.   "[A]  failure of  proof on  either prong  of the

            Strickland test  defeats an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel
            __________

            claim."  Id.  at 1413-14.  The district court  did not err in
                     ___

            failing  to  hold an  evidentiary  hearing  because, even  if

            petitioner's  allegations are  accepted  as true,  he is  not

            entitled to relief.

                      The   summary  dismissal  of  petitioner's     2255

            petition is affirmed.
                        ________

                                         -4-