Padilla-Galarza v. United States

JOSE PADILLA- GALARZA, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent.

CIVIL NO. 19-1415 (DRD)

(Criminal No. 15-0078)

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico

September 6, 2022

OPINION AND ORDER

DANIEL R. DOMMGUEZ UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Pending before the Court is Petitioner Jose Padilla Galarza's (hereinafter “Petitioner” and/or “Padilla Galarza”) Motion Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate set aside, or correct Sentence by a Person in Federal Custody (Docket No. 4).^[1] Respondent, the United States of America (hereinafter, the “Government”) filed its respective response in opposition thereto. (Docket No. 24). On December 4, 2019, Petitioner filed his Reply thereto. (Docket. No. 31).

The Court notes that prior to filing the instant § 2255 Petitioner, appealed his convictions before the First Circuit and the convictions and sentence of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico were affirmed subject to remand for the limited purpose of striking the child pornography forfeiture order. See, Docket No. 150 in Crim. Case No. 15-0078 (DRD).

For the reasons stated herein, the Court DENIES Petitioner's Motion to Correct Sentence Under 28 U.S.C § 2255. (Docket. No. 1).

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On January 2015, federal law enforcement agents executed a search warrant in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico in a house which Padilla Galarza had inherited from his parents. United States v. Padilla-Galarza, 886 F.3d 1, 4 (1^st Cir. 2018) During the search, the agents found ammunition and 1,293.10 grams of marijuana. Id. A Grand Jury returned a Two-Count Indictment against the Petitioner for being a prohibited person in possession of ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §922 (g)(1) (hereinafter, “Count One”) and possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1) and b (1)(D) 1,3 (hereinafter, “Count Two”). Id. See also, Crim No. 15-cr-0078 at Docket No. 1.

Petitioner was found guilty on Count One and Count Two of the Indictment on August 27, 2015. See, Crim No. 15-cr-0078 at Docket No. 136. Accordingly, on December 3, 2015, Petitioner was sentenced to forty-six (46) months of imprisonment, to be served consecutively to the sentences imposed in criminal cases 15-079 (DRD) and 15-633 (GAG). Upon release from imprisonment the Petitioner would be on supervised release for the term of three (3) years. Id.^[2]

On April 30,2019, the Petitioner timely initiated the instant matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (Docket No. 1). In summary, Petitioner claims that: (1) his appellate counsel was ineffective for misstating the record to Petitioner's detriment and not including additional legal arguments in the brief; and (2) alleged government misconduct violated Padilla's due process rights. On October 4, 2019, the Government filed a Response (Docket No. 24) in opposition thereto, averring that: (1) Petitioner received effective assistance of counsel on appeal; (2) Petitioner was not prejudiced by appellate counsel's misstatement of the record and (3) that Petitioner's claim of government and prosecutorial misconduct were procedurally defaulted.

II. ANALYSIS

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, a federal prisoner may file a petition to vacate, set aside, or correct his or her sentence by showing that “the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States, or that the court was without jurisdiction to impose such sentence, or that the sentence was in excess of the maximum authorized by law, or is otherwise subject to collateral attack.” The prisoner is entitled to a prompt hearing “unless the motion and the files and records of the case conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief.” Id. However, “[r]elief under [§ 2255] is available only in extraordinary situations, such as an error of constitutional or jurisdictional magnitude or where a fundamental defect has occurred which results in a complete miscarriage of justice.” Blake v. United States, 723 F.3d 870, 878-79 (7^thCir. 2013) (citations omitted); see Knight v. United States, 37 F.3d 769, 772-73 (1^st Cir. 1994).

A. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claim

Petitioner asserts that he received ineffective assistance of counsel for various reasons. First, Petitioner states in his Memorandum in Support of 2255 Petition that one of the issues raised in his brief before the First Circuit was that “the evidence was insufficient to demonstrate that defendant had knowledge of the drugs or ammunition.” (Docket No. 1 at 3) Petitioner alleges that appellate counsel misstated the record in his brief “as to where the marijuana and ammunition was found” (Docket No. 1 at 1). According to Padilla Galarza, said mistake materially affected his insufficiency of evidence argument since the First Circuit allegedly relied on said statement to deny Petitioner's sufficiency of evidence argument. Petitioner alleges that appellate counsel's “incorrect narration of the record in a highly prejudicial manner by representing to the Court that the marijuana, bullets, and mannequins were found in the organized bedroom where it could be inferred that he slept there, led the Court to incorrectly dismiss his sufficiency of evidence argument.” (Docket No. 1 at 7)

Second, Petitioner states that appellate counsel was ineffective since she failed to cite a Puerto Rico law that allowed an individual to purchase “all types of ammunition even if they weren't of the type for which you had a license”. Id. at 5. According to Petitioner, this information was relevant since “the trial evidence showed his father possessed a firearms license since 1994 (Exh. 9c) was within the time period a person could purchase any type of bullets in P.R. (Exh. 10)” Id. at 8.

Third, Petitioner alleges that appellate counsel failed to “include in her argument related to the failure to grant a continuance error Padilla's two prose motions... that included multiple facts that supported the granting of a continuance.” Id. at 2. According to Padilla Galarza, appellate counsel's failure to include this information materially prejudiced him since the appellate Court was “never made aware of the multiple valid additional reasons that existed that justified finding error in the failure to grant the continuance”. Id. The Court disagrees with these statements and explains.

To prevail on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the Petitioner holds the heavy burden of proving his allegations meet and satisfy the Strickland standard. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). Under Strickland, Petitioner must prove that (1) counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and (2) prejudice, meaning that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's error, the result of the proceedings would have been different. Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356, 366 (2010) (quoting Strickland v. Washington, 466, U.S. 668b (1984)); see Argencourt v. United States, 78 F.3d 14, 16 (1^st Cir. 1996); Scarpa v. Dubois, 38 F.3d 1, 8 (1^st Cir. 1994); Lema, 987 F.2d 48, 51 (1^st Cir. 1993); Lopez-Nieves v. United States, 917 F.2d 645, 648 (1^st Cir. 1990) (citing Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687).

The first prong of the Strickland test is satisfied when the Petitioner proves that counsel's performance fell under an objective standard of reasonableness. “When a convicted defendant complains of the ineffectiveness of counsel's assistance, the defendant must show that counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness under prevailing professional norms.” Strickland, 466 U.S. 687-688. However, it has been recognized that “counsel is strongly presumed to have rendered adequate assistance and made all significant decisions in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment.” Id. at 690. In examining whether the Petitioner's representation was below the objective standard of reasonableness Courts should always make a determination as to whether Petitioner received from counsel the constitutional right to an adequate representation. “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the [right] [. . .] to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defen[s]e.” U.S. Const. amend VI. It is further recognized that “strategic choices made after thorough investigation of law and facts relevant to plausible options are virtually unchallengeable; and strategic choices made after less than complete investigation are reasonable precisely to the extent that reasonable professional judgments support the limitations on investigation.” Strickland, 48 U.S. at 690-91. In any ineffectiveness assistance of counsel case, a particular decision “must be directly assessed for reasonableness in all the circumstances, applying a heavy measure of deference to counsel's judgments.” Id. Petitioner could prevail in his claim if he can prove that appellate counsel's actions were “so patently unreasonable that no competent attorney would have made it.” Knight v. Spencer, 447 F.3d 6, 15 (1^st Cir. 2006). There is no doubt that Strickland also applies to representations outside of the trial setting, which includes plea bargains, sentence and appeal. See Missouri v. Frye, 132 S.Ct. 1399, 1408-10, 182 L.Ed.2d 379 (2012); Lafler v. Cooper, 132 S.Ct. 1376, 182 L.Ed.2d 398 (2012); Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 57 (1985); Bonneau v. United States, 961 F.2d 17, 2022 (1st Cir. 1992).

In the case at bar, both Petitioner and the Government, assert that appellate counsel indeed made a mistake when she cited in the brief that the ammunition and marijuana was found in the more organized bedroom. According to Petitioner, “had the correct facts been informed in the brief the insufficiency of evidence argument could have prospered”. (Docket No. 1 at. 4)...