United States v. Simmons, No. 12-3165 (8th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseDefendant challenged the validity of his guilty plea to drug and firearm offenses. The court concluded that defendant had not shown a reasonable probability that he would have declined to plead guilty, relinquished the substantial benefits of his plea agreement, and insisted on proceeding to trial on all three original counts of the indictment had the court accurately advised him of the elements of the 18 U.S.C. 924 violation charged in Count Two. Accordingly, defendant was not entitled to relief and the judgment of the district court was affirmed.
Court Description: Criminal Case - conviction. The indictment charging Simmons with violating 18 U.S.C. sec. 924(c) was defective, as it charged him with possessing a firearm during an in relation to any drug trafficking offense rather than possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense. The district court violated Rule 11 by not accurately informing him of the elements of the section 924(c) offense, but because there was no reasonable probability that he would have declined to plead guilty, relinquish the substantial benefits of his plea agreement and proceed to trial on all three counts of the indictment, he is not entitled to withdraw his guilty plea.
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