Glen Ray Briggs plead guilty to a series of crimes involving methamphetamine and cocaine. The most serious charges related to his participation in a reverse sting operation organized by government agents to rob an alleged stash house.

As part of the plans for the robbery Briggs was to brings guns to be used in the robbery. He was arrested after he got into a vehicle that was going to be used in the robbery. No guns were found.

While the Ninth Circuit court refused refused to allow him to withdraw his plea it found that the two level enhancement for possession of a weapon was inappropriate since no weapon was found.

Briggs claimed that he should be allowed to withdraw his plea since he did not understand the consequences of the plea. Specifically he expected a sentence of approximately 200 months and the actual sentence was 324 months. He pointed to the fact that he has an IQ of 70 as a reason he did not understand the possible consequence. But the court pointed out that it is only in rare circumstances that a plea can be withdrawn for misunderstanding the possible sentence. It examined the plea transcript and the psychiatric records. Both point to Briggs understanding the plea and asking questions when he did not understand the proceedings.

Briggs also claimed that he should be allowed to withdraw his plea because of sentencing entrapment. Sentencing entrapment occurs when the government pushes the quantity of drugs up beyond the expectation of the defendant in order to increase the possible sentence. While in a reverse sting the government has practically total control over the amount of drugs and the court must be leery of drug quantities the facts here showed that Briggs was excited over the large quantity to be seized and he had no problem with it. In this circumstance there is no sentencing entrapment since Briggs agreed to the quantity.

The case was remanded for reconsideration of the gun enhancement.