United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED March 1, 2024 No. 22-51046 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk United States of America,

Plaintiff—Appellee,

versus Jacob Ray Owens,

Defendant—Appellant. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas USDC No. 7:22-CV-120 ______________________________ Before Wiener, Willett, and Douglas, Circuit Judges. Dana M. Douglas, Circuit Judge: Jacob Ray Owens pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine. The district court sentenced him to 324 months of imprisonment, followed by a five-year term of supervised release. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, Owens challenges his sentence, arguing that his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective for failing to object to the purity of methamphetamine attributed to him. In denying habeas relief, the district court held that Owens failed to show that he was prejudiced by his counsels’ performance. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM. Case: 22-51046 Document: 80-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/01/2024

No. 22-51046

I. In August 2018, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents began to investigate Owens’s co-conspirator Brian Edward Stowe for trafficking methamphetamine. A few months later, Owens and other co- conspirators were driving through Arizona when police officers conducted a traffic stop, found 10.6 ounces of methamphetamine in the car, and arrested them. While in custody, Owens called Stowe and said they need to “get to work” and “get things going when he gets released.” Owens also called other co-conspirators to discuss how Stowe would “salvage the business.” At a second traffic stop, on November 28, 2018, police officers discovered one of the co-conspirators with methamphetamine. The co- conspirator confessed that he or she had traveled with Stowe and another individual to Tijuana, Mexico, during Thanksgiving to retrieve methamphetamine. A DEA lab report confirmed that the co-conspirator possessed about 205.5 grams of 98% pure methamphetamine, equivalent to 201.3 grams of actual methamphetamine. On January 2, 2019, officers arrested Stowe. He confessed that he partnered with Owens to import and sell methamphetamine. For sourcing methamphetamine, Stowe told officers that he uses an individual that Owens did not. Stowe further admitted that he, Owens, and another co-conspirator purchased five pounds of methamphetamine during a trip to Tijuana, Mexico, on an undisclosed date. Stowe confessed that he made at most six trips to Tijuana, Mexico, and transported about nine to ten pounds total of methamphetamine. A grand jury charged Owens and Stowe with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine. Owens pleaded guilty without a plea agreement. In the PSR, the probation officer determined that Owens was responsible for at least 2.56 kilograms of

2 Case: 22-51046 Document: 80-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 03/01/2024

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