164008P.pdf   01/05/2018  United States  v.  Robert Sharp
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  16-4008
   U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa - Cedar Rapids   
   [PUBLISHED] [Gruender, Author, with Smith, Chief Judge, and Wollman, 
   Circuit Judge] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law. The district court did not abuse its 
   discretion by denying defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea to 
   charges that he conspired to manufacture and distribute a controlled 
   substance and possessed controlled substances with intent to distribute; 
   claims that his attorney had a conflict of interest because he was a vital 
   witness as to defendant's mens rea rejected as defendant had failed to 
   show that counsel's advice to plead guilty was linked to the conflict; 
   claim that counsel rendered ineffective assistance by misinforming 
   defendant about willful blindness rejected as counsel reasonably believed 
   the government could show that defendant had actual knowledge that the 
   substance he was distributing was a controlled substance; further, there 
   was a factual basis for the plea; the evidence elicited at sentencing 
   neither rehabilitated defendant's credibility not undermined the evidence 
   of his guilt, and the district court did not err in failing to sua sponte 
   reconsider the motion to withdraw the plea.