US v. Rodney Peters, No. 12-4747 (4th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 12-4747 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. RODNEY PETERS, a/k/a Rocco, a/k/a Rodney Strokes, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. J. Frederick Motz, Senior District Judge. (1:11-cr-00003-JFM-27) Submitted: April 4, 2013 Decided: April 10, 2013 Before SHEDD, DUNCAN, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Joseph M. Owens, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Ayn B. Ducao, Assistant United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM: Rodney Peters pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin within 1000 feet of real property comprising of a public housing authority or a public school, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 860 (2006). On appeal, Peters contends his counsel was ineffective for not fully conveying to him the terms of the Government s first conclusively show review the claim. plea that offer. Because counsel was the record ineffective, does will we not not Accordingly, we affirm. The Sixth Amendment right to counsel during criminal proceedings extends to the plea bargaining process. Frye, 132 S. Ct. 1399, 1405 (2012). Missouri v. Criminal defendants are entitled to effective assistance of counsel during that process. Lafler v. Cooper, 132 S. Ct. 1376, 1384 (2012). succeed in this performance was probability case, Peters deficient and that the must that deficiency show there In order to that is prejudiced a counsel s reasonable the defense. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 694 (1984). Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are normally presented to the court by way of a 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp. 2012) motion. appeal only when it Such claims are cognizable on direct conclusively appears on the record defense counsel did not provide effective assistance. 2 that United States v. Powell, 680 F.3d 350, 359 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 376 (2012). The record shows that Peters and counsel disagreed on key points. Peters contends he accepted the Government s first plea offer while counsel contends Peters rejected the offer. Peters claims counsel told him the Government will give him a better plea offer as it gets closer to trial. Counsel denies telling Peters that and contends he told Peters the opposite. Clearly, expanded. this is a case where the record could be Without a full record it is impossible to make a conclusive finding regarding counsel s conduct. United States v. DeFusco, 949 F.2d 114, 120-21 (4th Cir. 1991). Accordingly, because the record does not conclusively show that counsel was ineffective, we will not review this claim at this time and will affirm the conviction and sentence. dispense with contentions are oral argument adequately because presented in the the facts We and legal materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED 3
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
