Court Opinion

ID: 9405632
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-06-28 21:00:37.317608+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:23.165375
License: Public Domain

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                                             UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                               No. 21-4243

        UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                             Plaintiff - Appellee,

                      v.

        OSCAR HERNANDEZ MALDONADO,

                             Defendant - Appellant.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at
        Charlotte. Max O. Cogburn, Jr., District Judge. (3:19-cr-00368-MOC-DSC-1)

        Submitted: January 30, 2023                                       Decided: June 27, 2023

        Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, and KING and RICHARDSON, Circuit Judges.

        Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        ON BRIEF: Charles Robinson Brewer, Asheville, North Carolina, for Appellant. Dena
        Janae King, United States Attorney, Anthony Joseph Enright, Assistant United States
        Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Charlotte, North Carolina;
        Amy Elizabeth Ray, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED
        STATES ATTORNEY, Asheville, North Carolina, for Appellee.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
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        PER CURIAM:

               Oscar Hernandez Maldonado pleaded guilty, pursuant to a written plea agreement,

        to employing, using, persuading, inducing, enticing, and coercing any minor to engage in

        sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography, in violation of

        18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), (e).     The district court sentenced Maldonado to 360 months’

        imprisonment. Maldonado’s sole argument on appeal is that he received constitutionally

        ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing. The Government has moved to dismiss the

        appeal on the ground that the record does not conclusively establish that counsel was

        ineffective and therefore Maldonado’s claims are not cognizable on direct appeal.

        Maldonado opposes the Government’s motion. For the following reasons, we deny the

        Government’s motion but affirm the criminal judgment.

               To demonstrate constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must

        establish both deficient performance and prejudice. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S.

        668, 687-88, 692 (1984). An attorney’s performance is deficient if “counsel made errors

        so serious that counsel was not functioning as the ‘counsel’ guaranteed the defendant by

        the Sixth Amendment.” Id. at 687. We “must indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s

        conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the

        defendant must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged

        action might be considered sound trial strategy.” Id. at 689 (internal quotation marks

        omitted). To establish prejudice, “[t]he defendant must show that there is a reasonable

        probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would

        have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine

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        confidence in the outcome.” Id. at 694. To show prejudice in the guilty plea context, a

        defendant claiming ineffective assistance “must demonstrate a reasonable probability that,

        but for counsel’s errors, he would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going

        to trial.” Christian v. Ballard, 792 F.3d 427, 443-44 (4th Cir. 2015) (internal quotation

        marks omitted).

               Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are cognizable on direct appeal “only

        where the record conclusively establishes ineffective assistance.” United States v. Baptiste,

        596 F.3d 214, 216 n.1 (4th Cir. 2010). Generally, a defendant should instead raise

        ineffectiveness claims in a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion, to permit sufficient development of

        the record. Id.; see Massaro v. United States, 538 U.S. 500, 504-06 (2003).

               Maldonado argues that his counsel’s performance was deficient in two respects.

        First, Maldonado contends that counsel rendered ineffective assistance in waiving

        objections to the presentence report, without Maldonado’s consent, at the sentencing

        hearing. Next, he asserts counsel was ineffective for failing to hire an expert to testify

        regarding cultural assimilation to support the motion for a downward departure or variance.

        We have reviewed the record and conclude that it does not conclusively establish

        Maldonado’s claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. See Baptiste, 596

        F.3d at 216 n.1. Therefore, these claims are not cognizable on direct appeal.

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              Accordingly, we deny the Government’s motion to dismiss but affirm the criminal

        judgment. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are

        adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the

        decisional process.

                                                                                AFFIRMED

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