Ochoa-Garcia

MEMORANDUM **

Juan Ochoa-Gareia pled guilty to the charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and aiding and abetting in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 , 841(a)(1); 841(b)(l)(A)(viii) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 . As part of the plea agreement, the government agreed not to pursue the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment under 21 U.S.C. § 851 . Subsequently, defendant moved to withdraw his guilty plea *624 alleging that during his sentencing hearing he had problems communicating with his counsel and that his counsel led him to believe that if he entered a guilty plea, he would only serve eight years in prison. In consideration of defendant’s motion, the district court heard arguments from the government attorney, a new attorney representing defendant, and also heard directly from defendant. The district court denied the motion and later a sentence of three hundred sixty months in prison was imposed pursuant to defendant’s guilty plea.

We review the district court’s decision to deny defendant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Rios-Ortiz, 830 F.2d 1067, 1069 (9th Cir.1987). Under Rule 32(d) of the Federal…