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Denial of Motion to Withdraw Guilty Plea Upheld

By Shari Allison

U.S. v. Hamilton, --- F.3d ----, 2007 WL 4393257 (10th Cir. Dec. 18, 2007)The 10th upholds the district court?s denial of D?s motion to withdraw his plea based on ineffective assistance of counsel (no abuse of discretion in denying the motion). (D pleaded guilty to drugs and gun+drugs). The 10th reached the IAC merits because the district court held a hearing on D?s claim that he entered a plea based upon erroneous information given to him by his attorney that he was not looking at sentencing as a career offender?it was the rare case where a record was sufficiently developed for review.Under R. 11, D must show a fair and just reason for withdrawing his plea. Of the 7 parts of the ?test? to determine if the D met his burden, the court looks at, among other things, D?s claim of innocence and the assistance he had from counsel...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on December 21, 2007 (boomark / email).