United States v. De Garcia

MEMORANDUM **

Gregoria Ibarra de Garcia (“Garcia”) appeals her sentence of sixty months imprisonment following her guilty plea for importing more than one hundred kilograms of marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952 , 960.

Garcia first claims she received ineffective assistance of counsel at the time of her plea negotiations because her retained attorney, Mahir Sherif, did not collaterally attack a pre-existing extension of state probation that made her statutorily ineligible for a safety valve departure under U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2. Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are generally inappropriate on direct appeal. United States v. McKenna, 327 F.3d 830, 845 (9th Cir.2003). Such claims normally should be raised in habeas corpus proceedings, which permit a petitioner to develop a record of what her original counsel did, why it was done, and what prejudice may have resulted. Id. There are two situations in which a defendant may bring ineffective assistance of counsel claims on direct review: (1) when the record on appeal is sufficiently developed to permit effective review and resolution of the issue; or (2) when counsel’s performance was so inadequate that it obviously…