United States v. Richard Crippen

After defendant rejected a plea offer in an earlier state criminal proceeding, he was indicted and convicted in federal court on identical conduct. Defendant’s federal conviction led to a guidelines sentence far in excess of the sentence that he would have received had he agreed to the earlier state plea offer. Arguing that he rejected the state plea offer because of ineffective assistance of counsel, defendant moved for a downward departure from the guidelines sentence. The district court denied his motion on the ground that ineffective assistance of counsel in earlier state proceedings does not constitute a permissible basis for departure.

We hold that the district court was correct in concluding that it had no discretion to depart. Accordingly, we affirm defendant’s sentence.

FACTS

In March 1990, defendant Richard Crip-pen was arrested for the possession of 290.75 grams of methamphetamine. Crip-pen’s counsel entered into plea negotiations with the State of Oregon; these negotiations led to an offer from the state which would have resulted in Crippen’s incarceration for approximately 24 months. Upon the advice of his counsel, Crippen declined to enter into the plea agreement.…