United States v. Lawhorn, No. 12-3464 (8th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseDefendant pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. On appeal, defendant challenged the district court's denial of his motion to withdraw his plea. The magistrate judge found that defendant effectively waived any right to complain about his counsel's performance where counsel had discussed with him the circumstances surrounding defendant's arrest and seizure of the firearm and defendant had professed satisfaction with counsel's performance at his plea hearing. Assuming that defendant did not waive his right to complain of counsel's performance, the court held that defendant failed to show prejudice because even if counsel had filed a motion to suppress evidence discovered during the search, it would have failed. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Court Description: Criminal case - Criminal law. District court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea as defendant effectively waived any complaint about his attorney's performance when he professed satisfaction with counsel's performance at this plea proceeding; assuming defendant did not waive his right, his complaint that he should be allowed to withdraw the plea because counsel failed to file a motion to suppress did not entitle him to relief because the failure to file the motion did not prejudice him because such a motion would have been denied had it been filed.
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