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Criminal Law-Sentencing Challenge -Voluntariness of Guilty Plea-Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
Staff Report//January 7, 2026//
Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence following his guilty plea to drug, fraud and money laundering offenses, challenging the district court’s application of a sentencing enhancement, the voluntariness of his plea and the effectiveness of his legal counsel.
Where the district court properly considered the statutory sentencing factors and stated that it would have imposed the same sentence even if a different Guidelines range applied, there was no abuse of sentencing discretion.
Judgment is affirmed.
U.S. v. Haley (MLW No. 84182/Case No. 25-1379 & 25-1381 – 4 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, per curiam) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa, Ebinger, J.
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