Court Opinion

ID: 2963657
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:13:35.103518+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:42:44.349126
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

          September 19, 1995
                                [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

                                 ____________________

        No. 94-2192

                                    UNITED STATES,

                                      Appellee,

                                          v.

                                  RICHARD FERGUSON,

                                Defendant, Appellant.

                                 ____________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                          FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

                   [Hon. Shane Devine, Senior U.S. District Judge]
                                       __________________________

                                 ____________________

                                        Before

                                Torruella, Chief Judge.
                                           ___________
                          Selya and Boudin, Circuit Judges.
                                            ______________

                                 ____________________

            Richard Ferguson on brief pro se.
            ________________
            Paul M. Gagnon, United States Attorney,  and Peter E. Papps, First
            ______________                               ______________
        Assistant United  States Attorney,  On Motion For  Summary Disposition
        for appellee.

                                 ____________________

                                 ____________________

                 Per Curiam.   In June 1994,  appellant Richard Ferguson,
                 __________

            filed a document in  the district court (hereinafter Document

            #508) which  the court  properly treated  as a  motion, filed

            pursuant to 28 U.S.C.   2255, to vacate, set aside or correct

            his sentence.  In Document #508, Ferguson complained that (1)

            there was  disparity among  the sentences imposed  on himself

            and his  co-defendants, (2)  there were  miscalculations [not

            further specified] by the probation office in calculating his

            "volnerability  [sic]  under  the sentencing  guidelines,  an

            error  his  newly appointed  counsel failed  to point  out or

            object  to at  sentencing," (3)  he had  received ineffective

            assistance of counsel [not further described] from indictment

            to sentencing  and (4)  contrary  to a  prior district  court

            conclusion,  he  had  given  substantial  assistance  to  the

            government since  his sentencing.  The  district court denied

            the   2255 motion and Ferguson has appealed.

                 Ferguson'  initial  brief  on  appeal  essentially  is a

            compilation of documents that  Ferguson filed in the district

            court after that  court's ruling  on Document #508.   To  the
                  _____

            extent  that he argues  matters not raised  in Document #508,

            those arguments are not properly before us for review.

                 We  turn to the issues that are raised by Document #508.

            On appeal, Ferguson makes no  argument regarding his claim of

            miscalculation  by the  probation  office in  calculating his

            "volnerability"    under    the    sentencing    guidelines.1

            Similarly, Ferguson  makes  no appellate  argument about  his

            complaint that the district court erred in concluding that he

            had not given substantial  assistance to the government since

            his sentencing.   These  claims are  therefore waived.2   See
                                                                      ___

            Lareau v. Page, 39 F.3d 384, 390  n.3 (1st Cir. 1994) (noting
            ______    ____

            that claims raised below but not addressed in appellate brief

            are deemed abandoned).

                 Ferguson complains that co-defendants who, like himself,

            testified against the remainder who went to trial, received

            lesser  sentences than he received.  "[I]n the ordinary case,

            '[t]he  guidelines do  not  require the  sentencing court  to

            consider related cases or  to justify a sentence in  terms of

            the punishment  meted out to co-defendants.'"   United States
                                                            _____________

            v. Munoz, 36 F.3d  1229, 1239 (1st Cir. 1994),  cert. denied,
               _____                                        ____________

            115 S.  Ct.  1164  (1995) (quoting  United  States  v.  Font-
                                                ______________      _____

                                
            ____________________

            1.  We interpret this claim to relate to Ferguson's assertion
            of mental and emotional problems.

            2.  In  any  event,  Ferguson's  claim that  his  counsel  at
            sentencing  failed  to  point  out his  mental  or  emotional
            problems or object to the probation office's characterization
            of his mental and emotional health claims is directly refuted
            by the written objections filed  by Ferguson's counsel to the
            presentence report  and by  the transcript of  the sentencing
            hearing.
                 And, the district court's authority to reduce a sentence
            due  to   substantial  assistance  in  the  investigation  or
            prosecution of another person is initiated upon motion by the
                                                       __________________
            government,  see, e.g., 18 U.S.C.   3553(e); Fed. R. Crim. P.
            __________   _________
            35(b),   -  an initiating  event that did  not occur  in this
            case.  

                                         -3-

            Ramirez, 944 F.2d 42,  50 (1st Cir. 1991), cert.  denied, 502
            _______                                    _____________

            U.S.  1065 (1992)).   Moreover, Ferguson has  only pointed to

            the apparent disparity without suggesting that the testifying

            co-defendants  were similarly situated as to criminal history

            and culpability and ignores the fact that mandatory sentences

            forfirearms violationsplayeda rolein determininghis sentence.

                 Finally, although  Ferguson's briefs argue the  issue of

            ineffective assistance of counsel - a claim that Ferguson did

            raise in Document #508 -  he has fleshed out this claim  with

            allegations,  for example,  an  alleged conflict  of interest

            possessed by counsel Grossberg, that Ferguson did not present

            to the district court in Document #508.  Thus,  we decline to

            consider this  particular claim.3   See, e.g.,  United States
                                                _________   _____________

            v.  Pierce, 60 F.3d 886, 890-91 (1st Cir. 1995) (declining to
                ______

            address,  in  the  first  instance,  a  claim  that  was  not

            presented to the district court).

                 Affirmed.
                 _________

                                
            ____________________

            3.  We note, however, that  Ferguson's claim that (a) counsel
            knowingly  misled him  into believing  that his  sentence for
            firearms violations  would run concurrent  with, rather  than
            consecutive  to, his sentence on the other charges and (b) if
            he had known  that a consecutive  sentence was mandatory,  he
            would not have pled  guilty, but would have gone to trial, is
            belied  by  the  transcript  of  the  guilty  plea  in  which
            Ferguson, himself,  recites that  the penalties for  Count 16
                      _______
            and Count 20 each are five years in addition to  the sentence
            imposed on the underlying crimes.  Transcript of Oct. 2, 1992
            at p. 8.

                                         -4-