Thanks for visiting! Welcome to a new way to research case law. You are viewing a free summary from Descrybe.ai. For citation and good law / bad law checking, legal issue analysis, and other advanced tools, explore our Legal Research Toolkit — not free, but close.
United States v. Cassini
Citation: 207 F. App'x 787Docket: No. 05-30623
Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; November 14, 2006; Federal Appellate Court
Michael Alan Cassini appeals his sentence following convictions for wire and bank fraud under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1344, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel. The court affirms the sentence, noting that it typically does not consider such claims on direct appeal; however, the record is sufficiently developed to address the issue. The court reviewed the case and determined that counsel's performance met the standard of competence required in criminal cases, as established in Strickland v. Washington. Counsel's decisions, including agreeing to stipulations regarding loss calculation and the number of victims in exchange for the government dropping other charges, were deemed reasonable given the evidence against Cassini. Additionally, counsel's strategy during the sentencing hearing was found to be competent. The ruling is not intended for publication and cannot be cited in court except as permitted by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. Cassini does not contest the sentence itself, focusing solely on the alleged ineffectiveness of his counsel.