United States v. Mason

MEMORANDUM **

Overview

A jury convicted James Mason of conspiring to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841, and District Judge Edward Rafeedie sentenced him to 240 months in prison. Mason appeals his conviction and sentence. We have jurisdiction over Mason’s timely appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18' U.S.C. § 3742(a), and for the reasons expressed below, we AFFIRM.

Because the parties are familiar with the facts of this case, we recount them here only where necessary to explain our decision.

Discussion

1. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel in the Current Proceedings

Mason claims that his attorney failed to pursue favorable plea options that his co-defendants’ lawyers were able to secure for their clients. According to Mason, his lawyer’s failure constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel. We decline to address this claim on direct appeal.

‘We prefer appellants to raise [ineffective assistance of counsel] claims in a habe-as proceeding because it permits the district judge first to decide whether the claim has merit, and second, if it does, to develop a record as to what counsel did, why it was done, and what, if…