United States v. Layel , 194 F. App'x 169 ( 2006 )

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 05-4928
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
REBECCA CHRISTINE JORDAN LAYEL,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of North Carolina, at Bryson City. Lacy H. Thornburg,
District Judge. (CR-04-93)
Submitted: July 21, 2006 Decided: August 14, 2006
Before TRAXLER, GREGORY, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Camille M. Davidson, THE FULLER LAW FIRM, Charlotte, North
Carolina, for Appellant. Gretchen C. F. Shappert, United States
Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, Amy E. Ray, Assistant United
States Attorney, Asheville, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Rebecca Christine Jordan Layel appeals her conviction and
sentence of 100 months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised
release, following her guilty plea to conspiracy to possess with
intent to distribute in excess of fifty grams of cocaine base, in
violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841, 846 (2000). On appeal, Layel
asserts that ineffective assistance of counsel resulted in her plea
when the evidence did not support her involvement in the
conspiracy. As Layel acknowledges, her claim of ineffective
assistance of counsel must be brought in a collateral proceeding
under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (2000), unless it conclusively appears from
the face of the record that her counsel was ineffective. United
States v. Baldovinos, 434 F.3d 233, 239 (4th Cir.), cert. denied,
126 S. Ct. 1407 (2006).
We find ample evidence on the face of the record
supporting Layel’s guilt in the conspiracy, such that her guilty
plea does not appear to have been ill-advised. During the Fed. R.
Crim. P. 11 hearing, Layel affirmed that she was, in fact, guilty
of the charged conspiracy, and that she was pleading guilty
knowingly and voluntarily. During her sentencing hearing, Layel
stipulated to the factual basis supporting her guilty plea and to
the facts as set forth in the presentence investigation report.
Layel does not take issue with the sufficiency of the evidence of
her involvement in the conspiracy; rather, she contends that she
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was not a willing and voluntary participant in the conspiracy. She
contends that her illegal actions “may not have been [undertaken]
freely” because one of the co-defendants, Douglas Nelson, regularly
carried a firearm and on one occasion when Layel owed him money,
forced her to sign over to him money from her husband’s disability
check. However, there is no evidence on this record that Nelson
ever threatened Layel with a firearm or in any other way coerced
her into selling crack cocaine on a daily basis for months, as she
admitted doing. Moreover, Layel admitted to facilitating the
trading of crack cocaine for firearms on behalf of Nelson, again
with no evidence that he was threatening her to gain her
assistance.
We find the evidence sufficient to establish Layel’s
guilt of conspiracy on the record presented, and thus no
ineffective assistance of counsel appears on the face of the record
such that we would entertain Layel’s claim of ineffective
assistance on direct appeal. Accordingly, we affirm Layel’s
conviction and sentence. We dispense with oral argument because
the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the
materials before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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