Judge William Skretny
In 2010 Abbey, an alien, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and substantive counts of possessing and distributing controlled substances in violation of 21 USC §846. His plea agreement resulted in a Guidelines sentence range of 70 to 87 months in prison, a fine from $12,500 to $2 million, and a supervision term of four to five years. In April 2012 Abbey was sentenced to a below Guidelines sentence of time served and five years' supervised release, to be unsupervised if deported. Deportation proceedings were instituted. District court denied Abbey's motion under 28 USC §2255 to vacate, set aside, or correct sentence. It rejected his assertion that under Padilla v. Kentucky, he was denied effective assistance by counsel who failed to advise him of the deportation consequences. The court explained the terms of his plea agrement, and expressly discussed with Abbey his guilty plea's deportation consequences. Also, Abbey's own admissions during the plea hearings refuted the notion that he was dissatisfied with his lawyer, and undermined his allegations of counsel's ineffectiveness. Because he was aware of his pleas's immigration consequences, Abbey failed to show that there would have been a different result but for counsel's conduct.
