Maave

MEMORANDUM **

Maave Maave Jr., appeals his conviction and sentence, claiming that he was denied assistance of counsel when he pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute 124 milligrams of crack cocaine in a public park. We dismiss the appeal without prejudice to his timely filing a claim for post conviction relief based on his claim that he was denied effective assistance of counsel. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255 .

He claims on appeal that he would not have pled guilty had he known that the federal sentencing guidelines, when applied to one with his criminal history, would result in a 15 year sentence for possessing a quantity of contraband smaller than an aspirin tablet. The record reveals only that he pled guilty after his lawyer told him his sentence would be somewhere between 18 and 35 months.

The record does not reveal whether his court appointed attorney asked about, or otherwise learned, before his client pled guilty, that he had two prior felony convictions. Under the guidelines, those convictions, in hindsight, make the advice of counsel grossly erroneous, and raise questions about counsel’s performance.

Appellant did not move in the district court to withdraw his…