Strain

MEMORANDUM *

Barbara Aun Strain filed a motion for habeas corpus relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 . A jury convicted Strain on two counts of bank robbery ( 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a) and (d)), one count of interference with commerce by robbery ( 18 U.S.C. § 1951 (a)), three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm ( 18 U.S.C. §§ 922 (g)), and three counts of using or carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence ( 18 U.S.C. § 924 (c)). She requests a new trial on the ground that she received ineffective assistance of counsel at the plea-bargaining stage. She claims that her trial counsel did not advise her of the mandatory stacking provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 924 (c), which account for most of Strain’s 650-month sentence. Had she known that this was the mandatory minimum sentence, she argues, she would not have rejected the prosecutor’s offer of a 15-year (180-month) sentence in exchange for a plea of guilty.

After holding an evidentiary hearing, the magistrate judge recommended that the district court find that Strain’s trial counsel informed her of the mandatory and consecutive nature of sentencing under § 924(c) and that Strain adamantly refused the prosecutor’s…