Joshua Perez v. United States

I. INTRODUCTION

On September 24, 2020, Joshua Perez (“Perez”) filed the present Motion to Vacate, Set Aside or Correct Sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (“Motion”). In his Motion, Perez contests his sentence based on five claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. For the following reasons, the Court denies Perez’s motion.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On April 11, 2017, a grand jury returned a verdict charging Perez, along with five other co- defendants with two counts of assaulting a federal officer, in violation of 18 U.S.C §§ 11(a)(1), (b), □□□□□ Two of the co-defendants pled guilty. Perez and the remaining co-defendants went to trial. A jury convicted Perez on one count of assaulting a federal officer. On April 16, 2018 the Court sentenced Perez to 60 months’ imprisonment. Perez appealed to the Ninth Circuit and raised two issues: (1) the district court erred in instructing the jury that he could not claim self-defense for any portion of the assault that occurred once the officer tried to flee; and (2) because Perez did not cause “serious bodily injury” to the officer, the district court miscalculated his sentencing guidelines by applying section 2A2.2. The Ninth…