United States v. Yuzary

17 F. App'x 43
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedAugust 21, 2001
DocketNo. 00-1653
StatusPublished

This text of 17 F. App'x 43 (United States v. Yuzary) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Yuzary, 17 F. App'x 43 (2d Cir. 2001).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the judgment be AFFIRMED.

Defendant-appellant Haim Yuzary appeals from a judgment of conviction entered on September 15, 2000, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Patterson, J.). Yuzary was convicted by a jury on June 13, 1997, following an eight-day trial, on both counts of a two-count indictment charging him with (1) conspiring in 1990 and 1991 to commit money laundering, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 371; and (2) attempting to transport funds out of the United States while “knowing that such transportation was designed in whole and in part ... to conceal and disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, and the control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activity,” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(B).

The evidence at trial established that in late 1990, Yuzary was recruited by a Panamanian money launderer for Colombian drug traffickers. As part of the scheme, Yuzary would pick up drug proceeds in New York, bring the cash to Panama, and effect personal delivery. Yuzary would receive four percent of each cash delivery in payment for his services.

Yuzary challenges his conviction on the following grounds:
(1) His trial counsel labored under an unspecified conflict of interest at sentencing, during which counsel was uncomfortable in contending with his client’s evident desire to alter testimony in a way that might have been perjurious. The district court erred in denying counsel’s request for an adjournment because Yuzary was forced to proceed to sentencing without effective assistance of counsel.
(2) The district court abused its discretion in denying Yuzary’s motion for a new trial without conducting a hearing. The motion was based on proffers that the money-laundering operation was subject to wiretapping surveillance in Panama, a technique that was illegal under Panama law, and that the circumstances of Yuza-ry’s airport arrest, as he left the United States for Panama, suggested that U.S. Customs Officials were on the lookout for him, presumably because of a tip from Panamanian authorities.

The district court’s decision to refuse to adjourn sentencing is reviewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Booth, 996 F.2d 1395, 1397-98 (2d Cir.1993). “A sentencing court has broad discretion respecting the scheduling of sentencing proceedings. Absent a showing both that the denial (of a requested continuance of sentencing) was arbitrary and that it substantially impaired the defendant’s opportunity to secure a fair sentence, we will not vacate a sentence because a continuance was denied.” Id. (quoting United States v. Prescott, 920 F.2d 139, 146-147 (2d Cir. 1990)).

Under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687-88, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel requires the defendant to prove that counsel’s performance [47]*47fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and that he suffered prejudice. Prejudice is shown where “there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.” United States v. White, 174 F.3d 290, 294 (2d Cir.1999) (quoting Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052).

Where a defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim is based on an alleged conflict of interest, “a defendant is entitled to a presumption of prejudice if he can demonstrate that his attorney labored under an actual conflict of interest and that the ‘actual conflict of interest adversely affected his lawyer’s performance.’ ” Id. at 295 (quoting Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 348-49, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980)).

There is an actual conflict between lawyer and client when, during the corn's e of the representation, the attorney’s and defendant’s interests diverge with respect to a material factual or legal issue or to a course of action____ To prove adverse effect, the defendant must demonstrate that some plausible alternative defense strategy or tactic might have been pursued, and that the alternative defense was inherently in conflict with or not undertaken due to the attorney’s other loyalties or interests.

Armienti v. United States, 234 F.3d 820, 824 (2d Cir.2000) (internal quotations and citations omitted).

The district court’s ruling denying Yuzary’s request to adjourn sentencing proceedings was not arbitrary, nor did it substantially impair Yuzary’s opportunity to secure a fair sentence. Prescott, 920 F.2d at 146-47. Counsel gave the court no information about the purported ethical dilemma he faced; so the district judge had no basis to justify the continuance sought by defense counsel.1 Nor was Yuzary impaired or prejudiced by the refusal to adjourn. As to the ethical issue, Yuzary admits that defense counsel acted appropriately. Yuzary does not argue that his counsel would have acted differently if given the opportunity to adjourn and consult with an ethics expert. Yuzary’s counsel continued to represent Yuzary zealously even after the supposed ethical conflict arose.2

In addition to our conclusion that Yuzary’s opportunity to secure a fair sentence was not substantially impaired, we conclude that defense counsel had no actual conflict of interest. The Supreme Court has explained that where a supposed conflict is provoked by a client’s proposal to commit perjury, the resulting tension between a lawyer’s duty of loyalty to his client and the ethical duty to the court is not a “conflict” between lawyer and client that infringes any legitimate interest. Nix v. Whiteside, 475 U.S. 157, 176, 106 S.Ct. 988, 89 L.Ed.2d 123 (1986).3

[48]*48Nor has Yuzary demonstrated that he has a potential conflict of interest under Strickland. See Armienti, 234 F.3d at 824; White, 174 F.3d at 296. Strickland’s first prong requires Yuzary to show that his counsel’s performance fell below an objective standard of representation. However, given Yuzary’s concession that his counsel did everything correctly and acted ethically, he cannot satisfy this prong.

Even if Yuzary had shown that his attorney erred, he cannot show prejudice. Strickland prejudice must result from counsel’s unprofessional errors (not from the defendant’s conduct taken under free will).

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Related

United States v. Johnson
327 U.S. 106 (Supreme Court, 1946)
Cuyler v. Sullivan
446 U.S. 335 (Supreme Court, 1980)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Nix v. Whiteside
475 U.S. 157 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Saratoga Fishing Co. v. J. M. Martinac & Co.
520 U.S. 875 (Supreme Court, 1997)
United States v. Philip Prescott
920 F.2d 139 (Second Circuit, 1990)
United States v. John White
972 F.2d 16 (Second Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Gary A. Booth
996 F.2d 1395 (Second Circuit, 1993)
United States v. Douglas Brown
98 F.3d 690 (Second Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Donald R. White
174 F.3d 290 (Second Circuit, 1999)
United States v. Diaz
176 F.3d 52 (Second Circuit, 1999)
Anthony Armienti v. United States
234 F.3d 820 (Second Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Gerald J. Petrillo
237 F.3d 119 (Second Circuit, 2000)

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Bluebook (online)
17 F. App'x 43, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-yuzary-ca2-2001.