Buenrostro

Appellant Jose Luis Buenrostro was tried and convicted on a charge of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine. The offense involved more than thirty-one kilograms of methamphetamine. Because Buenrostro had two prior felony drug convictions, the court sentenced him to a mandatory minimum term of life imprisonment without release. 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 , 851(d)(1), 841(a)(1), (b)(l)(A)(viii) (1995). We affirmed Buenrostro’s conviction on direct appeal. He then moved the district court to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 . The district court denied that motion on its merits.

After the district court concluded Buenrostro’s § 2255 proceeding, Buenrostro moved the district court to reopen it under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) due to a newly discovered ineffective assistance of counsel claim. According to Buenrostro, his lawyer had received a generous plea offer five months before his trial but never told Buenrostro about it. Had Buenrostro accepted that offer, his maximum sentencing exposure would have been fourteen years. But, because (he alleges) Buenrostro’s lawyer did not realize that Buenrostro faced the possibility of a life sentence, the lawyer rejected…