United States v. John Ligon

MEMORANDUM

John Ligón appeals the district court’s judgment dismissing his petition seeking a writ of error coram nobis as barred by his plea agreement. We affirm. The district court correctly concluded that Ligón voluntarily and knowingly waived his right to bring an “as applied” constitutional challenge in his plea agreement, which explicitly waived any collateral attack on his conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon. Courts generally enforce a defendant’s waiver of the right to appeal or collateral attack a conviction if “(1) the language of the waiver encompasses the defendant’s right to appeal on the grounds claimed on appeal, and (2) the waiver is knowingly and voluntarily made.” United States v. Nunez, 223 F.3d 956, 958 (9th Cir.2000) (internal quotation marks omitted). The parties do not contest that Li-gon’s petition for writ of error coram nobis is a form of collateral attack encompassed by the plea agreement. See Telink, Inc. v. United States, 24 F.3d 42, 45 (9th Cir.1994).

Instead, Ligón contends that at the time of the plea agreement he was laboring under the mistaken belief that, should this court overturn his predicate felony conviction on appeal, his…