April 11, 2012 - San Francisco Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Denied Government's Motion to Dismiss Appeal

April 11, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco, entered an order denying the Government's motion to dismiss Mr. Kent's appeal for client F.B. and granted our motion for bond pending appeal despite the Government's opposition and the denial of an appeal bond by the district court.  The Government's motion to dismiss the appeal was premised on an appeal waiver provision in F.B.'s plea agreement.  We argued that the appeal waiver provision should not be enforced because (1) the change of plea colloquy demonstrated that F.B. had not been properly advised about the meaning of the appeal waiver provision, and (2) because the appeal itself, which is an appeal of a motion to withdraw the plea, argued that F.B.'s former counsel who represented her during the change of plea, was ineffective.