U.S. v. Jansen

Dist. Ct. did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea to wire fraud and tax evasion charges, even though defendant contended that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to thoroughly investigate witness statements and other documents supporting govt.’s case prior to negotiating and recommending to defendant instant plea agreement. While failure of counsel to thoroughly investigate case prior to negotiating plea agreement can constitute ineffective assistance of counsel, defendant failed to establish that any failure to do so was prejudicial, where record supported finding that by time defendant had hired his trial counsel, defendant had already decided to plead guilty to instant charges, and that defendant had hired trial counsel to negotiate best possible plea agreement, as opposed to taking case to trial. Moreover, trial counsel could properly decide not to conduct in-depth investigation into govt.’s case against defendant, where trial counsel could properly believe that said investigation might cause govt. to rethink its position under circumstances where said investigation might uncover evidence that would support filing additional charges against defendant.