Eugene Linder v. Bill Donat

MEMORANDUM

Eugene Anthony Linder, a Nevada state prisoner, appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition challenging his murder conviction and sentence of life with possibility of parole after ten years. Linder contends his guilty plea, entered pursuant to North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25 , 91 S.Ct. 160 , 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970), was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary, and that his counsel rendered ineffective assistance by misadvising him as to the potential sentence as a result of the Alford plea. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2253 , and we affirm.

Linder’s statements at the plea colloquy and in the guilty plea agreement, coupled with the charges in the information, provided sufficient “strong factual basis,” see Alford, 400 U.S. at 38 , 91 S.Ct. 160 , from which a reasonable jury could find that Linder strangled the victim and that he did so with malice aforethought. See United States v. Neel, 547 F.2d 95, 96 (9th Cir.1976) (per curiam) (“The court need not be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that an accused is guilty. It need only be convinced that there is sufficient evidence to justify the reaching of such a…