Long v. U.S.

Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s habeas petition challenging his unlawful possession of firearm guilty plea on grounds that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file motion to suppress gun found in defendant’s car, which was blocking fast-food lane. Defendant’s plea agreement contained collateral review waiver, which potentially could not be invoked, where, as here, defendant essentially alleged that counsel was ineffective in negotiating plea agreement in light of counsel’s failure to file suppression motion. However, not every claim of ineffective assistance of counsel can overcome waiver in plea agreement, and Ct. of Appeals found that waiver should apply, where: (1) defendant failed to allege any facts suggesting that motion to suppress would have succeeded given fact that officer’s caretaking function allowed officer to determine why defendant was blocking drive-through lane then to discover that defendant was asleep at wheel in his car, where officer observed gun in plain view; and (2) defendant failed to convey what more thorough investigation by trial counsel would have produced to support any suppression motion. Defendant also failed to show that he would have gone to trial had trial counsel actually filed suppression motion.