United States v. Martinez-Carranza
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Juan Carlos Martinez-Carranza pled guilty to possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute it. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(l)(A)(viii). He appeals the district court’s order denying his post-conviction motion to set aside or correct his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, asserting that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel. The district court held that Martinez-Carranza had waived in his plea agreement his right to file such a motion. We review de novo, United States v. Aguirre-Ganceda, 592 F.3d 1043, 1045 (9th Cir. 2010), and affirm.
We need not decide whether the waiver is enforceable. See United States v. Jacobo Castillo, 496 F.3d 947, 957 (9th Cir. 2007) (en banc) (holding that the enforceability of a waiver is not a jurisdictional question). Even assuming that the waiver is not en-foreeable, Martinez-Carranza’s underlying ineffective assistance claim is not viable.
Preliminarily, we expand the certificate of appealability to encompass the merits of Martinez-Carranza’s ineffective assistance claim. See Valerio v. Crawford, 306 F.3d 742, 764 (9th Cir. 2002) (en banc) (noting that we have authority to expand a certificate of appealability “to include additional issues when the district court has granted a [certificate] as to some but not all issues”). Although a respondent is ordinarily afforded an opportunity to brief any uncer-tified issues raised in a petitioner’s opening brief, see 9th Cir. R. 22-l(f), we need not obtain additional briefing here, as both parties have already fully briefed the merits of Martinez-Carranza’s ineffective assistance claim.
A claim for ineffective assistance of counsel can succeed only if the attorney’s performance was objectively deficient and prejudicial. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 690, 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Martinez-Carranza argues that his attorney’s representation was deficient because competent counsel would have explained more clearly that, under the plea agreement here, Martinez-Carranza was not obligated to offer substantial assistance under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e), but only to disclose information about his own wrongdoing under § 3553(f), sometimes called the “safety-valve” provision, see United States v. Shrestha, 86 F.3d 935, 938 (9th Cir. 1996). His theory relies on the assumption that he would have remained eligible for a safety-valve reduction by disclosing his own involvement in the crime
AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- United States v. Juan Carlos MARTINEZ-CARRANZA
- Status
- Published