Bassett v. United States

188 F. Supp. 3d 411, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68496, 2016 WL 3014403
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedMay 25, 2016
DocketCivil Action No. 15-2074 (WHW)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 188 F. Supp. 3d 411 (Bassett v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bassett v. United States, 188 F. Supp. 3d 411, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68496, 2016 WL 3014403 (D.N.J. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

WALLS, Senior District Judge:

I. INTRODUCTION

Ronald B. Bassett (“Petitioner”) moves to vacate, correct, or set aside his federal sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (Docket Entries 8 and 10). Respondent United States of America (“Respondent”) opposes the motion. (Docket Entry 16). For the reasons stated herein and for the reasons expressed on the record at the March 16, 2016 evidentiary hearing, Petitioner’s motion is denied, and no certificate of appealability will issue.

II. BACKGROUND

After pleading guilty to a drug trafficking conspiracy involving one kilogram or more of heroin, 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A); 21 U.S.C. § 846, Petitioner was interviewed by the United States Probation Office on June 22, 2012 in the presence of his attorney, Ronald Rubinstein. During the course of the interview, United States Probation Officer Albert Flores inquired about Petitioner’s assets for the purpose of determining whether Petitioner had the financial ability to pay a fine. Petitioner indicated during the interview he had no income. Presentence Report (“PSR”-)- ¶ 81. “The defendant and counsel explained that there were a number of assets which were part of the parental estate, which have not been disposed of, and remain in probate.” Id. ¶ 138.

After conducting an investigation into Petitioner’s finances, the Government notified Probation and Petitioner that it would be seeking an enhancement for obstruction of justice arid objecting to the acceptance of responsibility deduction at sentencing. It submitted recordings of Petitioner’s jailhouse telephone conversations and documents indicating Petitioner’s late mother’s estate, of which Petitioner was the sole beneficiary, had been out' of probate since 2010 in support of its argument that Petitioner had deliberately mislead Probation as to the extent of his assets in an effort to avoid having to pay a fine.

Mr. Rubinstein responded to the arguments on November 14,. 2012, rioting that “[t]he gravamen of the government’s obstruction claim revolves around the word ‘probate,’ its correct definition, and Mr. Bassett’s statement to the Probation Department at his pre-senténce interview that the properties ‘remained in probate.’ ” A4 6.1 He argued:

The government’s argument is apparently based upon a misunderstanding that the term “probate.” [sic] The government correctly stated a decree admitting the will to probate was entered on August 5, 2010. However, it incorrectly assumed probate concluded rather than began the process permitting the administration of the estate, and the ability of obtaining letters testamentary from the court. Though inartful, Mr. Bassett’s use of “in probate” to describe the status of the assets was not intended to deny ownership of the assets; rather Mr. Bas-sett intended to communicate that the assets were not immediately available to [414]*414him in that the estate administration process- had not been completed.... While the government was correct in so far as Mr. Bassett became the executor of the estate with administration authority as of August 5, 2010, the government incorrectly claimed Mr. Bassett inherited. “$550,000 worth of assets outright” and that he has been receiving income from the trust, which has not even been set up as of the date of this letter.

A48. Counsel continued to argue:

[t]he government has unjustifiably attributed the expertise of a trusts and estates professional to Mr. Bassett, claiming that he intentionally characterized the assets as “in probate” to mislead the government as to the true status of the assets. The fact is that Mr, Bassett had no more than an elementary understanding of the legal terminology of the trusts and estates universe and the correct definition of the word “probate.” ... His assertion that the assets were still “in probate” was intended to convey his understanding that the assets were still inaccessible to him due to the still incomplete estate administration process. It is patently unfair to assume Mr. Bassett had technical knowledge of the legal meaning of “probate” and even more so that he intentionally used this term1 to mislead the government in order to avoid a fine.

A49. He further argued the Government’s characterization of the jailhouse tapes was incorrect and that the properties owned by Petitioner were not generating income. A49-50.

The Court heard argument on January 9, 2013 regarding the Government’s motions. After the Government submitted several evidentiary items that indicated Petitioner had assets that he had either not reported to Probation or had undervalued, the argument turned towards the “in probate” remark at the June 22, 2012 interview. The following conversation took place:

Court: So the will had been probated and approved, in other words, as of 2010. And in June of 2012, practically two years from that time, what mention if any is made from that which flowed from his mother by way of testacy [to] him?
Counsel: Well, the first thing, Judge, nothing was asked about what was involved in probate. ' • ■
Court: He said everything is in probate. I’m asking—he says everything is in probate, which happened 20-22 months before.
Counsel: Well, that’s not exactly accurate, Judge.
Court: But what’s August of 2010 and June of 2012?
Counsel: You’re right about the time-frame, but the fact of the matter is, that the term, “probate” was misstated; correct? .
Court: Was what?
Counsel: Was a misstatement of the term, understanding of the term, what the term means.
Court: Come on now, we have your client, who proudly says he’s a “good fucking teacher with business.”
Counsel: I thought—I’m the one that said it was in probate. I’m the one that said—
Court: You thought. You want to go to jail with him too?
Counsel: I’m the one that said to Mr. Flores—he says it in 143—
Court: Go ahead with that argument. I caution you, since you’ve been before me, don’t go down that path.
Counsel: I don’t want to. I don’t want to, Judge. I want to explain to your Hon- or that the term “in probate” is a term [415]*415of art for estate lawyers. What it means—
Court: It’s a tem of art for anybody who wants to make it a term of art. But in the real world, anybody such as your very—your very astute client, he knows that his mother’s will is in there to be approved. And once that’s approved, he takes what she divides to it. I don’t expect him to use the terms • that you and I learned in Property 1 or Estate Planning, but I expect him to understand that. It would be unrealistic for me not to assume that he knew what was going on with regard to probate....

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Bluebook (online)
188 F. Supp. 3d 411, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68496, 2016 WL 3014403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bassett-v-united-states-njd-2016.