Jones

MEMORANDUM *

Defendant Barry Royce Jones, Jr., appeals the sentence imposed by the district court following his guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to manufacture over 500 grams of methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 . Jones argues that the government breached the plea agreement by failing to file a motion under U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1, and that the government improperly relied on the future availability of a sentence reduction under Fed.R.Crim.P. 35(b) in deciding not to file a § 5K1.1 motion. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742 (a), and we affirm. 1

This court has not settled on a standard of review for determining whether the government has breached a plea agreement. See United States v. Transfiguracion, 442 F.3d 1222, 1227 (9th Cir.2006) (noting that it is either clear error or de novo). Because the district court in the present case did not interpret the plea agreement, we review de novo.

Plea agreements are contracts and are construed according to “the ordinary rules of contract interpretation.” Id. at 1228 (quoting Brown v. Poole, 337 F.3d 1155, 1159 (9th Cir.2003)). Jones’ plea agreement provided that the government was not…