United States v. Gregory Hayes

MEMORANDUM

Gregory Hayes appeals from his guilty plea convictions for conspiring to make false statements in connection with the acquisition of firearms and two counts of being a felon in possession of firearms, which resulted in a combined fifteen-year prison sentence — five years for conspiracy consecutive to concurrent ten-year terms for the felon-in-possession counts. He argues that the district court did not properly advise him of his maximum possible sentence before he pled guilty to the three counts. Because Hayes did not bring the claimed defect to the district court’s attention, his conviction may be reversed only if the district court committed plain error. United States v. Pena, 314 F.3d 1152, 1155 (9th Cir.2003) (citing United States v. Vonn, 535 U.S. 55 , 122 S.Ct. 1043 , 152 L.Ed.2d 90 (2002)). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Hayes concedes government counsel correctly stated during the plea colloquy that the maximum sentence Hayes could receive for conspiracy was five years and for each of his firearms possession counts was ten years. He focuses his appeal on the district court’s subsequent statements that fifteen years was “the worst…