del Valle-Mulero v. United States

785 F. Supp. 16, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19677, 1991 WL 322291
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedDecember 31, 1991
DocketCiv. No. 91-1300 (JAF); Crim. No. 87-685
StatusPublished

This text of 785 F. Supp. 16 (del Valle-Mulero v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
del Valle-Mulero v. United States, 785 F. Supp. 16, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19677, 1991 WL 322291 (prd 1991).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

FUSTE, District Judge.

On June 7, 1988, petitioner Hector del Valle-Mulero pled guilty to one count of a multi-count superseding indictment charging conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute amounts of cocaine and heroin in excess of one kilogram, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and § 846. (Criminal Docket Document Nos. 809, 828E). On September 14, 1988, petitioner was sentenced to a five-year term of imprisonment followed by a four-year term of supervised release and a special monetary assessment of $50, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3013. (Criminal Docket Document Nos. 976, 977). On December 30, 1988, the court appointed new counsel for the purpose of filing post-judgment motions. (Criminal Docket Document No. 1066A). On January 12, 1989, petitioner filed a motion seeking a reduction of sentence pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 35 which was denied by the court on January 25, 1989. (Criminal Docket Document Nos. 1081, 1099). Petitioner has now filed a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 seeking to vacate the sentence on various grounds. For the reasons stated below, we deny his motion and dismiss the petition.

We first note that we dismiss del Valle-Mulero’s section 2255 petition without an evidentiary hearing. The court must, therefore, find that, accepting petitioner’s allegations as true, he is entitled to no relief; however, the court does not have to accept as true allegations that “are contradicted by the record, inherently incredible, or conclusions rather than statements of fact.” United States v. Michaud, 925 F.2d 37, 39 (1st Cir.1991) (quoting Dziurgot v. Luther, 897 F.2d 1222, 1225 (1st Cir.1990) (per curiam). “Even if a section 2255 motion is facially adequate, a hearing is not necessary before dismissal if the motion is ‘conclusively refuted as to the alleged facts by the files and records of the case.’ ” Myatt v. United States, 875 F.2d 8, 11 (1st Cir.1989) (quoting Moran v. Hogan, 494 F.2d 1220, 1222 (1st Cir.1974)); Perez-Calo v. United States, 757 F.Supp. 1, 2 (D.P.R.1991). Applying these standards, we find no need for a hearing to rule on petitioner’s motion.

Del Valle-Mulero raises three grounds for relief in his section 2255 petition. First, he argues that the sentence imposed is not in compliance with 21 U.S.C. [18]*18§ 846, the statute to which he pled guilty. As a second ground, he argues that the disparity between his sentence and those imposed upon codefendants for similar conduct violates the equal protection component of the fifth amendment due process clause. Finally, he argues that his sixth amendment right to counsel was violated by his attorney’s ineffective assistance at the change of plea and sentencing hearings. After a review of the relevant transcripts, we find no merit in petitioner’s claims.

First of all, del Valle-Mulero is only partially correct when he says that he pled guilty to the conspiracy statute, 21 U.S.C. § 846. At the change of plea hearing, the court reviewed Count 2 of the superseding indictment and stated clearly that he was charged with violating both the conspiracy statute and the substantive distribution offense, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). (Criminal Docket Document No. 1146, Tr. at 9-10). The court went on to review the statutory language of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and § 846. {Id., at 11-12). The court also noted that the penalty provisions of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, Pub.L. 99-570, 100 Stat. 3207, 3207-2 to 3207-4 (“ADAA”), applied in petitioner’s case, since the activities for which he was charged occurred in the summer of 1987, after the enactment of the statute. {Id. at 24). Specifically, del Valle-Mulero was told that, since the ADAA penalty provisions applied, he would be subject to a five-year minimum and forty-year maximum prison term, as well as a minimum four-year term of supervised release. {Id., at 12-15). We also reviewed in detail with petitioner what was meant by a term of supervised release. {Id., at 15-16). We, therefore, find that petitioner was fully informed of the nature and consequences of pleading guilty to both the substantive offense of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and the conspiracy charge of 21 U.S.C. § 846.

Accordingly, petitioner was aware that he would be sentenced according to the post-1986 penalty provisions of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b) and not, as he claims, the post-1988 version of 21 U.S.C. § 846. See Gozlon-Peretz v. United States, — U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 840, 844-47, 112 L.Ed.2d 919 (1991) (statutory history of federal drug enforcement penalty scheme traced); United States v. Ferryman, 897 F.2d 584, 586-588 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 90, 112 L.Ed.2d 62 (1990) (same). As stated above, section 841(b)(1)(B) provides for a mandatory five-year minimum prison term followed by a minimum four-year term of supervised release. In Goz-lon-Peretz, the United States Supreme Court confirmed that ADAA section 1002 became effective the date of its enactment on October 27, 1986. Ill S.Ct. at 846-48. Consequently, the court did not err when it found that the ADAA penalty provisions, including the term of supervised release, were in effect at the time del Valle-Mulero committed the offense.

Because the criminal activity occurred in 1987, petitioner was correctly sentenced under the 1986 ADAA amendment to 21 U.S.C. § 841. The five-year prison term and the four-year term of supervised release represent the minimum sentence which the court was authorized to impose. Therefore, the court neither imposed an illegal sentence nor violated the fifth amendment in sentencing petitioner.

Based on the above, all but one of petitioner’s ineffective assistance of counsel claims fail, since they revolve around counsel’s performance at petitioner’s sentencing. Since we find that the penalty provisions were adequately explained to del Valle-Mulero at the Fed.R.Crim.P. 11

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Bluebook (online)
785 F. Supp. 16, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19677, 1991 WL 322291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/del-valle-mulero-v-united-states-prd-1991.