United States v. Wayne

329 F. App'x 126
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided July 6, 2009·No. No. 07-55161·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Federal prisoner Ernest Wayne appeals from the district court’s order denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253. We review de novo. See United States v. Rodrigues, 347 F.3d 818, 823 (9th Cir.2003). We reverse and remand for resentencing.

[127] Wayne contends that he was deprived of effective assistance of counsel because his counsel failed to object to a career offender enhancement at sentencing and on appeal. Wayne’s conviction under California Health & Safety Code § 11352 does not categorically qualify as a predicate conviction for a career offender enhancement, see United States v. Kovac, 367 F.3d 1116, 1119 (9th Cir.2004), and the record does not contain the documentation required by Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 24, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 161 L.Ed.2d 205 (2005). In these circumstances, counsel’s failure to object fell “below an objective standard of reasonableness.” See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 688, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Moreover, Wayne has demonstrated a reasonable probability that the district court would not have applied the enhancement had Wayne’s counsel objected.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

Footnotes

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United States v. Wayne, 329 F. App'x 126 (9th Cir. 2009).

329 F. App'x 126 (United States v. Wayne) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Shepard v. United States
544 U.S. 13 (Supreme Court, 2005)
United States v. Jess A. Rodrigues
347 F.3d 818 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
United States v. John Gilbert Kovac
367 F.3d 1116 (Ninth Circuit, 2004)