Jackson v. Attorney General of Nevada

MEMORANDUM **

Richard Jackson appeals a district court decision denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition. Pursuant to a plea agreement which lessened the charges against him, Jackson pleaded guilty in Nevada state court to two counts of Sexual Assault with a Minor Under Sixteen Years of Age. At his sentencing hearing, Jackson orally moved to withdraw his guilty plea, explaining that he was dissatisfied with his attorney and wanted to go to trial. The state court refused to allow him to withdraw his plea and sentenced him in accordance with his plea agreement.

Jackson filed a state habeas petition, which a state district court denied without an evidentiary hearing. On appeal, the *617 Nevada Supreme Court denied his claims on the merits. Jackson subsequently filed this 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition, alleging nine separate claims for relief. The district court dismissed six of his claims in their entirety, and a part of another, for failure to exhaust state remedies. It then denied the remaining three claims on the merits.

The Certificate of Appealability presents three issues for appeal:

A. The guilty plea

Jackson first argues that his trial counsel was ineffective for advising him…

concurring and dissenting:

I concur in Part A of the majority disposition, but I respectfully dissent from Part B. In reviewing de novo the constitutionality of Jackson’s state detention by applying the two-step Flores-Ortega analysis, I agree that under the first step a rational defendant in Jackson’s position may not have wished to appeal, given that he had waived most of his appellate rights in the plea agreement. Under the second step, however, the record is transparent that “this particular defendant” was interested in appealing, therefore I dissent from the majority’s analysis. I would reverse the district court judgment and remand with instructions to grant conditional habeas relief.

Prior to sentencing, Jackson unsuccessfully moved to withdraw his Alford plea, professed his innocence, and expressed frustration that his trial counsel had rushed him into pleading guilty without adequately developing his case and without giving him enough time to consider the benefits and drawbacks of not proceeding to trial. Moreover, Jackson’s appeal waiver did not foreclose a challenge “based upon reasonable constitutional jurisdictional or other grounds that challenge the legality of…