United States v. Erik Webster

MEMORANDUM

The district court sentenced Eric Du-shawn Webster to 300 months imprisonment after a jury convicted him of conspiring to traffic five or more kilograms of cocaine (in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a)(1) and 846) and conspiring to launder money (in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956 (h)). Webster appeals both his conviction and sentence. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742 (a), and we affirm.

Webster argues first that he was assisted ineffectively by his trial counsel, who may have failed to relay a plea offer that the Government might have made. That Webster lacks a clear record of (1) whether an offer was made, and (2) whether his attorney relayed the offer — if one was made in the first place — is fatal to his claim. We will not entertain a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel on direct appeal unless the record is developed well enough to allow us to evaluate trial coun sel’s effectiveness ourselves, or trial counsel’s performance was so obviously deficient as to have denied the defendant his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. United States v. McGowan, 668 F.3d 601, 605 (9th Cir.2012). This case presents neither of those circumstances,…