US v. Jorge Rodriguez

Filing

UNPUBLISHED AUTHORED OPINION filed. Originating case number: 1:10-cr-00089-WO-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998838533].. [10-5164]

Appeal: 10-5164

Document: 60

Date Filed: 04/24/2012

Page: 1 of 5

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 10-5164
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff – Appellee,
v.
JORGE ROSA RODRIGUEZ,
Defendant – Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Greensboro.
William L. Osteen,
Jr., District Judge. (1:10-cr-00089-WO-1)
Argued:

March 22, 2012

Decided:

April 24, 2012

Before SHEDD, KEENAN, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished opinion. Judge Shedd wrote the opinion
in which Judge Keenan and Judge Floyd joined.
ARGUED: Timothy P. O'Toole, MILLER & CHEVALIER, CHARTERED,
Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Randall Stuart Galyon, OFFICE
OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greensboro, North Carolina, for
Appellee.
ON BRIEF: Marie Park, Washington, D.C., for
Appellant.
Ripley Rand, United States Attorney, Greensboro,
North Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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SHEDD, Circuit Judge:
Two undercover agents arranged the exchange of a U-Haul
truck filled with marijuana for firearms and cash.
the

exchange,

speeding.

state

police

stopped

the

U-Haul

After a positive drug dog alert on

Following
truck

for

the van, the

police arrested Jorge Rodriguez, who waived his Miranda rights
and admitted possession of the drugs.
possession

with

intent

to

Rodriguez pled guilty to

distribute

505.9

kilograms

of

marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B),
and to possession of a short-barreled rifle and other firearms
in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18
U.S.C.

§

appeal.
merit.

924(c)(1)(B)(i).

Rodriguez

raises

four

issues

on

We discuss each issue below but find none to have
Therefore, for the reasons below, we affirm the judgment

of the district court.
I.
A.
First, Rodriguez alleges that the delay between his arrest
on state charges on March 25, 2009, and his federal indictment
on March 29, 2010, constitutes a violation of the Speedy Trial
Act.

Rodriguez raises this issue for the first time on appeal;

he did not file a pre-trial motion to dismiss the indictment or
information.

Thus, Rodriguez has waived his speedy trial claim.

See 18 U.S.C. § 3162(a)(2)(“Failure of the defendant to move for
2

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dismissal prior to trial or entry of a plea of guilty or nolo
contendere shall constitute a waiver of the right to dismissal
under this section.”).
B.
Second, Rodriguez challenges the sufficiency of his Rule 11
plea colloquy on various grounds.
withdraw

his

plea,

nor

did

he

colloquy in the district court.
plain error.

Rodriguez did not move to

raise

any

objections

to

the

Thus, we review his claims for

See United States v. Martinez, 277 F.3d 517, 525-

526 (4th Cir. 2002).
The Supreme Court has given the following instruction on
plain error review:
[A]n appellate court may, in its discretion, correct
an error not raised at trial only where the appellant
demonstrates that (1) there is an error; (2) the error
is clear or obvious, rather than subject to reasonable
dispute; (3) the error affected the appellant's
substantial rights, which in the ordinary case means
it affected the outcome of the district court
proceedings; and (4) the error seriously affect[s] the
fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial
proceedings.
United States v. Marcus, ––– U.S. ––––, ––––, 130 S.Ct. 2159,
2164 (2010) (internal punctuation and citation omitted). “[T]he
burden of establishing entitlement to relief for plain error is
on

the

defendant

claiming

it,”

United

States

v.

Dominguez

Benitez, 542 U.S. 74, 82 (2004), and “[m]eeting all four prongs
is difficult, as it should be,” Puckett v. United States, 556
3

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U.S.

129,

135

Date Filed: 04/24/2012

(2009)

(internal

Page: 4 of 5

punctuation

and

citation

omitted).
We hold that even assuming the district court committed the
various errors alleged by Rodriquez, such errors did not affect
Rodriguez’s substantial rights.

Rodriguez has not demonstrated

that but for the alleged errors, he would not have entered his
guilty plea.

See Martinez, 277 F.3d at 532 (the defendant “must

demonstrate that, absent the Rule 11 errors, he would not have
entered into his plea agreement”).

Moreover, Rodriguez’s own

statements during sentencing contradict such an assertion.

He

specifically admitted his guilt and said:

“I don’t want to go

to trial.

See J.A. 32.

I don’t want any more trial.”

Thus,

Rodriguez has not established that the district court committed
plain error during his Rule 11 plea colloquy.
C.
Third, Rodriguez claims that the district court incorrectly
calculated the drug quantity attributable to him, despite the
fact that he inspected the quantity of drugs before he finalized
the transaction.

Rodriguez did not object to the drug quantity

in the district court.
plain error.

Therefore, we review this claim for

See Martinez, 277 F.3d at 525-526.

In making this argument, Rodriguez primarily relies upon a
legal

theory

he

calls

sentencing

entrapment,

under

which

he

claims the government gave him more drugs than he expected for
4

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the sole purpose of enhancing his sentence.

He cites no case

law in support of this theory and concedes that this Court has
never

recognized

claims

Appellant’s Br. at 23-25.
did

not

commit

plain

of

sentencing

entrapment.

See

Thus, we hold that the district court

error

in

calculating

Rodriguez’s

drug

quantity and, specifically, it did not commit plain error in
failing to give Rodriguez relief under a sentencing entrapment
theory.

See United States v. Beasley, 495 F.3d 142, 149–50 (4th

Cir. 2007) (rejecting plain error argument where there “was no
controlling

‘current

law’

in

this

circuit”

at

the

time

of

sentencing “nor is there any today”).
D.
Finally,

Rodriguez

assistance of counsel.

asserts

a

claim

of

ineffective

Ineffective assistance of counsel is a

claim that this Court “may address on direct appeal only if the
lawyer’s ineffectiveness conclusively appears from the record.”
United States v. Baldovinos, 434 F.3d 233, 239 (4th Cir. 2006).
We

find

that

ineffective

the

record

assistance

and,

does

not

thus,

we

conclusively
decline

to

establish

address

the

issue on direct appeal.
II.
For the foregoing reasons we affirm the judgment of the
district court.
AFFIRMED
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