Filed: Dec. 03, 2013
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 13-4428 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. DANIEL EUGENE BIFIELD, a/k/a Diamond Dan, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Columbia. Cameron McGowan Currie, Senior District Judge. (3:12-cr-00430-CMC-1) Submitted: November 21, 2013 Decided: December 3, 2013 Before MOTZ, GREGORY, and WYNN, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opini
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 13-4428 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. DANIEL EUGENE BIFIELD, a/k/a Diamond Dan, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Columbia. Cameron McGowan Currie, Senior District Judge. (3:12-cr-00430-CMC-1) Submitted: November 21, 2013 Decided: December 3, 2013 Before MOTZ, GREGORY, and WYNN, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinio..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 13-4428
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
DANIEL EUGENE BIFIELD, a/k/a Diamond Dan,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Columbia. Cameron McGowan Currie, Senior
District Judge. (3:12-cr-00430-CMC-1)
Submitted: November 21, 2013 Decided: December 3, 2013
Before MOTZ, GREGORY, and WYNN, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
William W. Watkins, Sr., WILLIAM W. WATKINS, PA, Columbia, South
Carolina, for Appellant. William N. Nettles, United States
Attorney, Julius N. Richardson, Assistant United States
Attorney, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Daniel Bifield pled guilty, pursuant to a written plea
agreement, to conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering
activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (2012). The
district court sentenced Bifield to 210 months’ imprisonment.
Bifield entered his plea with his wife, Lisa, who was a co-
defendant in his case. Lisa’s plea was contingent on Bifield
pleading guilty. Bifield initially sought to withdraw his
guilty plea on the ground that the Government engaged in
prosecutorial misconduct by not informing him that Lisa’s plea
required cooperation with the Government and that she had
already given statements to the Government. After being
informed of the consequences if his motion to retract his guilty
plea were granted, and being warned that withdrawal of his
motion to retract his plea would waive his claims, Bifield
withdrew his motion. On appeal, Bifield argues that the
Government committed prosecutorial misconduct, that as a
consequence his plea was not knowing and voluntary, and that his
counsel was ineffective. We affirm.
We conclude that, by withdrawing his motion to
withdraw his guilty plea, Bifield has waived his claims that the
Government committed prosecutorial misconduct and that his plea
was not knowing and voluntary. United States v. Rodriguez,
311
F.3d 435, 437 (1st Cir. 2002) (“A party who identifies an issue,
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and then explicitly withdraws it, has waived the issue.”); see
also United States v. Guzman,
707 F.3d 938, 941 n.2 (8th Cir.
2013) (noting that appellant waived argument that Government
breached plea agreement by withdrawing motion to withdraw guilty
plea); United States v. Chapman, 209 F. App’x 253, 267 n.4 (4th
Cir. 2006) (noting that “withdrawal of [an] objection amounts to
a waiver of any complaint [regarding the action to which the
objection was made], precluding us from considering the issue
even under plain error review”) (argued but unpublished). An
appellant is precluded from resurrecting a waived issue on
appeal. See
Rodriguez, 311 F.3d at 437. Such waiver “is to be
distinguished from a situation in which a party fails to make a
timely assertion of a right -- what courts typically call a
‘forfeiture,’”
id. (quoting United States v. Olano,
507 U.S.
725, 733 (1993)), which may be reviewed on appeal for plain
error, see
Olano, 507 U.S. at 733-34.
Although Bifield waived his claims regarding
prosecutorial misconduct and the voluntariness of his plea, he
has not waived his ineffective assistance of counsel claim.
However, claims of ineffective assistance of counsel “are
generally not cognizable on direct appeal.” United States v.
Benton,
523 F.3d 424, 435 (4th Cir. 2008); see also United
States v. King,
119 F.3d 290, 295 (4th Cir. 1997) (noting same).
Instead, to allow for adequate development of the record, a
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defendant must ordinarily bring his ineffective assistance
claims in a motion pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. See
King, 119
F.3d at 295. We may entertain such claims on direct appeal only
if the record conclusively shows that defense counsel did not
provide effective representation. Id.; see also United States
v. Richardson,
195 F.3d 192, 198 (4th Cir. 1999); cf. Strickland
v. Washington,
466 U.S. 668, 687-94 (1984) (explaining standard
for ineffective assistance of counsel). We conclude that
Bifield has not shown that the record conclusively demonstrates
counsel’s ineffectiveness.
Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s judgment.
We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal
contentions are adequately presented in the materials before
this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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