United States v. Henson

948 F. Supp. 431, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20408, 1996 WL 695395
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 30, 1996
DocketCivil No. 3:96-CV-0572; Crim. No. 92-295
StatusPublished

This text of 948 F. Supp. 431 (United States v. Henson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Henson, 948 F. Supp. 431, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20408, 1996 WL 695395 (M.D. Pa. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NEALON, District Judge.

In this civil action brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, petitioner Homer Bobby Henson seeks to have his sentence vacated. On August 6, 1996, the court requested that the parties submit briefs addressing whether an evidentiary hearing was required on the issues of voluntariness of petitioner’s plea and the effectiveness of his counsel. The parties have briefed the issues and the matter is now ripe. For the reasons that follow, the court will deny the holding of an evidentiary hearing and will reconsider the original sentence imposed on Henson.

Procedural History

On November 18, 1992, petitioner Homer Bobby Henson was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges including: Count I, conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, a Schedule II narcotic controlled substance, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1), (2); and Count III, the knowing use and carrying of firearms during and in relation to. a drug trafficking felony in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). Pursuant to a signed plea agreement, Henson, represented by Nicholas Fick, Esq., pled guilty to Counts I and III on April 22,1993.

On November 18,1993, the petitioner, who then had new counsel, filed a motion to withdraw his plea. The court denied the motion to withdraw on March 24, 1994, and on October 27, 1994, sentenced petitioner to a term of 138 months, consisting of seventy-eight months on Count I and sixty months on Count III. Petitioner filed his motion to vacate on April 1, 1996, and in it’s response to the motion, the Government requested that the court adjust the guidelines determination upwards under U.S.S.G. § 2Dl.l(b)(l). On August 6, 1996, the court requested that the parties brief whether an evidentiary hearing was required on the issues of ineffective assistance of counsel and the voluntariness of petitioner’s plea.

Analysis

In section 2255 proceedings, the district court has discretion in determining whether an evidentiary hearing is required, and “[i]n exercising that discretion the court must accept the truth of the movant’s factual allegations unless they are clearly frivolous on the basis of the existing record.” Government of the Virgin Islands v. Forte, 865 F.2d 59, 62 (3d Cir.1989). Furthermore, the court is required to order an evidentiary hearing “unless the motion and files and records of the case show conclusively that the movant is not entitled to relief.” Id. Therefore, the court will look at all prior hearings and findings of fact in making its determination.

Henson first argues that his plea was involuntary because either the prosecution or his first counsel, Nicholas Fick, Esq., coerced his plea by stating that his son might be arrested if he did not plead guilty. The court finds no need for an evidentiary hearing on the basis of this argument inasmuch as this issue was addressed at the October 27, 1994, hearing and a specific finding made that there was no coercion. We have already heard and rejected petitioner’s involuntariness claim and the factual bases on which the argument rests, and as a result, no evidentiary hearing is now required to reconsider it.

At his sentencing bearing petitioner argued that he was weary and tired when he entered his plea and that Attorney Fick, in informing Henson that his son might be in danger of arrest, coerced petitioner to plead guilty. The court, aided by the record, petitioner’s statements, and the extensive testimony of Attorney Fick, found petitioner’s “claims of coercion and inability to concentrate and consciously enter a plea of guilty [434]*434... unpersuasive.” Transcript of Sentencing Hearing at 129; see Id. at 34 — 75. Petitioner, now in an attempt to vacate Ms sentence, 'appears to be only rehasMng the same coercion and involuntariness arguments he raised in his motion to withdraw and at Ms sentencing hearing. Concerning Mr. Fick’s alleged failure to interview the witnesses, Fick testified that he had the benefit of the government’s statements from these witnesses, as well as information coming from the defendant himself. Moreover, he had hired an investigator who went out to interview the witnesses, but was held back when the parties engaged in serious plea discussions. Finally, petitioner has not identified any witness who would have provided relevant testimony if interviewed. Cronin, of course, would not because he had entered a guilty plea and agreed to testify against Henson. The court has already heard the facts that form the basis for these arguments and was unpersuaded. Thus, petitioner’s current voluntariness and ineffective assistance of counsel arguments are frivolous, cumulative, and require no evidentiary hearing.

Petitioner raises two additional arguments predicated on the Supreme Court’s decision in Bailey v. United States, — U.S. -, 116 S.Ct. 501, 133 L.Ed.2d 472 (1995), which rendered 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) inapplicable to him. He contends that but for the application of section 924(c) as it existed at the time of his plea, he would have chosen to go to trial rather than enter a guilty plea. Henson also argues that Bailey constituted an external impediment to effective assistance of counsel.

Petitioner’s first Bailey argument is without merit. In McMann v. Richardson, 397 U.S. 759, 90 S.Ct. 1441, 25 L.Ed.2d 763 (1970), the Supreme Court held that a defendant

assumes the risk of ordinary error in either his or his attorney’s assessment of the law. Although he might have pleaded differently had later decided cases then been the law, he is bound by his plea and Ms conviction unless he can allege and prove serious derelictions on the part of counsel sufficient to show that Ms plea was not, after all, a knowing and intelligent act.

McMann, 397 U.S. at 774, 90 S.Ct. at 1450. Furthermore, “ ‘there is no general duty on the part of defense counsel to anticipate changes in the law.’ ” Sistrunk v. Vaughn, 96 F.3d 666 (3d Cir.1996) (quoting Forte, 865 F.2d at 62). Petitioner’s contention that but for the 924(c) charge he would not have pled guilty is squarely rejected by McMann and under the facts of record. Under McMann, petitioner is bound by his plea, despite a change in the law, unless he can show other “derelictions” on the part of counsel. McMann, 397 U.S. at 774, 90 S.Ct. at 1450; see United States v. Vallejo, 476 F.2d 667 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 830, 94 S.Ct. 61, 38 L.Ed.2d 65, reh’g denied, 414 U.S. 1086, 94 S.Ct. 606, 38 L.Ed.2d 491 (1973); United States v. Lindsey,

Related

McMann v. Richardson
397 U.S. 759 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Hill v. Lockhart
474 U.S. 52 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Murray v. Carrier
477 U.S. 478 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Bailey v. United States
516 U.S. 137 (Supreme Court, 1995)
United States v. Lang, S.
81 F.3d 955 (Tenth Circuit, 1996)
United States v. David L. Nahodil
36 F.3d 323 (Third Circuit, 1994)
Thomas G. Parry Bh-2648 v. Frederick Rosemeyer
64 F.3d 110 (Third Circuit, 1995)
United States v. Cedric L. Roulette
75 F.3d 418 (Eighth Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Sean M. Fennell
77 F.3d 510 (D.C. Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Mark D. Clements
86 F.3d 599 (Sixth Circuit, 1996)
Sistrunk v. Vaughn
96 F.3d 666 (Third Circuit, 1996)
Alton v. United States
928 F. Supp. 885 (E.D. Missouri, 1996)
Sanabria v. United States
916 F. Supp. 106 (D. Puerto Rico, 1996)
United States v. Forrest
934 F. Supp. 731 (E.D. Virginia, 1996)
Warner v. United States
926 F. Supp. 1387 (E.D. Arkansas, 1996)
Mixon v. United States
926 F. Supp. 178 (S.D. Alabama, 1996)
Brigham v. United States
414 U.S. 831 (Supreme Court, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
948 F. Supp. 431, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20408, 1996 WL 695395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-henson-pamd-1996.