Cole v. United States
Cole v. United States
Opinion of the Court
ORDER
After pleading guilty to armed bank robbery, see 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), (d), Carlos Cole sought collateral relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, claiming, among other things, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. The district court denied the motion, but then granted a certificate of appealability on the ineffective-assistance claim without explaining how that claim is “substantial” — a requirement to obtain appellate review. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2); Ramunno v. United States, 264 F.3d 723, 726 (7th Cir. 2001). And the claim is not substantial; it is in fact frivolous. Nonetheless, the government has not moved to vacate the certificate, see Ramunno, 264 F.3d at 726, so we will proceed to the merits of the appeal.
Cole contends that his lawyer furnished ineffective assistance by failing to investigate three possible lines of defense: (1) that “bank” as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2113(f) does not include institutions that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation “for only insolvency and not bank robbery”; (2) that “the intent element of [§ 2113(a)]” was not met because Cole did not “enter[ ] the bank with intent to commit a felony affecting such bank ... because [he] had been drinking and using drugs, which had altered his mind”; and (3) that the indictment was defective because it cited only to § 2113(d) and not § 2113(a). All three of these arguments are frivolous, so Cole’s lawyer was not deficient for fading to raise them. First, it does not matter that the bank Cole robbed was not FDIC-insured for losses due to criminal acts. See 18 U.S.C. § 2113(f). No bank is; FDIC-insurance coverage by nature does not extend so far. See United States v. Watts, 256 F.3d 630, 633-34 (7th Cir. 2001), petition for cert.
Cole has briefed additional issues, but the certificate of appealability, which we previously declined to expand, was limited to just the ineffective-assistance claim. The decision of the district court is therefore AFFIRMED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Carlos R. COLE v. United States
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published