United States v. Tovis Richardson

Summary

On remand, the court again affirmed Richardson’s 240-month sentence, holding that his plea-agreement appeal waiver was valid, covered his challenge to the firearm enhancement, and was not defeated by the asserted miscarriage-of-justice exception. The alleged sentencing error was a standard Guidelines-application error that was neither sufficiently obvious nor egregious to invalidate the waiver. The court also reaffirmed its prior conclusion that the ineffective-assistance claim could not be resolved on direct appeal because the record did not conclusively establish deficient performance.