Jose Buenrostro v. United States

ORDER

Petitioner Jose Luis Buenrostro was tried and convicted of conspiracy to manufacture more than thirty-one kilograms of methamphetamine. Because Buenrostro had two prior felony drug convictions, the district court sentenced him to a mandatory minimum term of life imprisonment without parole. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 , 851(d)(1), 841(a)(1), (b)(l)(A)(viii). We affirmed Buenrostro’s conviction on direct appeal. See United States v. Buenrostro, 163 F.3d 608 (9th Cir.1998). He then moved the district court to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 , which the district court denied on the merits.

After the district court concluded Buenrostro’s § 2255 proceeding, Buenrostro moved to reopen the proceeding under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) due to a newly discovered ineffective assistance of counsel claim. According to Buenrostro, his trial lawyer received a plea offer five months before trial and had Buenrostro accepted that offer, he would have received a maximum sentence of fourteen years. Buenrostro contends that his trial lawyer did not realize that Buenrostro faced the possibility of a life sentence, and the lawyer rejected the offer without informing Buenrostro of…