Ramos v. United States

580 F. Supp. 2d 296, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80858, 2008 WL 4443822
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedOctober 9, 2008
Docket08 Civ. 6455. No. 03 Cr. 0870
StatusPublished

This text of 580 F. Supp. 2d 296 (Ramos v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ramos v. United States, 580 F. Supp. 2d 296, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80858, 2008 WL 4443822 (S.D.N.Y. 2008).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

VICTOR MARRERO, District Judge.

I. BACKGROUND

Petitioner, Gustavo Ramos (“Ramos”) filed the instant petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (“ § 2255”) seeking to vacate, set aside or correct his sentence. Ramos was convicted of two counts of an indictment charging him and 13 co-defendants with participating in a conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 963, and to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. The Court sentenced Ramos to a term of imprisonment of 230 months. On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed Ramos’ judgment of conviction and sentence on April 17, 2007. See United States v. Feliz-Ramirez, 223 Fed.Appx. 33, 36-37 (2d Cir.2007). Ramos did not seek a petition for certiorari for review of his case by United States Supreme Court. Instead, Ramos filed the instant petition on July 18, 2008.

As grounds for relief Ramos alleges various instances of ineffective assistance of counsel. The Government, in a submission dated September 18, 2008, opposes Ramos’ petition as being time-barred and otherwise without merit. For the reasons stated below, Ramos’s petition is DENIED.

II. DISCUSSION

A. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

The Government points out that Ramos’s application is untimely under the applicable one-year period for filing § 2255 petitions. See 28 U.S.C. 2255(f). The Court agrees. Here, because Ramos did not file a petition for certiorari, under Supreme Court Rule 13 Ramos’s conviction became final on July 16, 2007, which is 90 days after April 17, 2007, the date the Court of Appeals affirmed this Court’s judgment. See S.Ct. R. 13(1). The Docket Sheet for the case indicates that Ramos’s petition was filed on July 18, 2008, although his counsel had previously corresponded with the Court seeking leave to appear in this action pro hac vice, which the Court granted and filed on July 14, 2008. On this record, Ramos’s petition is therefore untimely. Moreover, nothing on the record suggests any extraordinary circumstance that prevented Ramos from filing on time, and that would provide sufficient grounds to warrant equitable tolling of the statute of limitations. See Doe v. Menefee, 391 F.3d 147, 159 (2d Cir.2004).

*298 B. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

Mindful of the strong preference in this Circuit to resolve actions on the merits rather than by procedural defaults, the Court has reviewed the substance of Ramos’s petition and concludes that even if it had been timely filed, it nonetheless provides no meritorious grounds for relief and thus must be dismissed. Ramos claims that he obtained inefficient assistance of counsel prior to and during Ramos’s conviction by entry of a guilty plea. Specifically, he faults his counsel for failing to: (1) attend all proffer sessions, (2) assess Ramos’s prospects of achieving a cooperation agreement, (3) maintaining a record of Ramos’s attempts to cooperate, and (4) warn Ramos against overstating his role in the charged conspiracy.

Upon review of the petition, the Government’s response, the underlying record pertaining to Ramos’s conviction and sentencing, as well as relevant authority, the Court is not persuaded that Ramos has satisfied the rigorous standard applicable under Strickland v. Washington to support a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. See 466 U.S. 668, 687-88, 693-94, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Strickland requires a defendant claiming denial of counsel through deficient representation to satisfy two elements: (1) demonstrate that under prevailing professional norms counsel’s performance reflected errors so serious as to fall below “an objective standard of reasonableness” which effectively deprived the defendant of a fair trial and a reliable result, id. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, and (2) “affirmatively prove prejudice” from counsel’s alleged deficient representation, id. at 693, 104 S.Ct. 2052; see also Hernandez v. United States, 202 F.3d 486, 488 (2d Cir.2000); United States v. Aguirre, 912 F.2d 555, 560 (2d Cir.1990).

Here, the Court finds nothing in Ramos’s claims that supports either element of the Strickland test. In essence, Ramos faults his attorney for failing to obtain a cooperation agreement before Ramos actually met with the Government. But, as the Government notes, Ramos’s contentions in this regard manifests fundamental misunderstanding of the process and the relevant considerations by which the Government, after proffer sessions with a particular defendant, determines whether any information provided is sufficiently truthful and complete, and whether cooperation would be valuable to the Government in the investigation of other individuals. In practice, that decision generally is not made until after numerous sessions between a potential cooperator and the prosecutor, and not every proffer necessarily leads to an agreement. Thus, the Government’s rejection of an offer of cooperation, for reasons it may not always be able to articulate to the satisfaction of a defendant, cannot be charged to defendant’s counsel as a basis for a claim of ineffective assistance.

Looking at the record before it as a whole, the Court is satisfied that the errors Ramos ascribes to his counsel cannot be deemed so serious as to fall below an objective standard of reasonableness. Nor is there anything in the record suggesting any fundamental unfairness or unreliability in the proceedings that resulted in Ramos’s conviction, or that in any reasonable way could be attributable to the representation provided by Ramos’s attorney.

Moreover, Ramos has failed to point to any part of his counsel’s performance indicating that, but for deficient representation, there was “a reasonable probability that the outcome of the proceeding would have been different.” Mayo v. Henderson, 13 F.3d 528, 534 (2d Cir.1994). The evidence the Government proffered during Ramos’s plea, to which Ramos knowingly and voluntarily allocuted, demonstrated *299 sufficient evidence of Ramos’ leadership role in the conspiracy and of his guilt of the offenses charged.

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Bluebook (online)
580 F. Supp. 2d 296, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80858, 2008 WL 4443822, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ramos-v-united-states-nysd-2008.