EX PARTE APPLICATION for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply… — USA v. Western Distribution, LLC. et al (Dkt. 136)

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California · No. 5:21-cr-00170-JGB · Doc. 136 · 2025-02-28 · Docket on CourtListener

Summary

The government's ex parte application, filed February 28, 2025 as Doc. 136 in No. 5:21-cr-00170-JGB in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, seeks more time to respond to Carl Bradley Johansson's motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate, set aside, or correct his 120-month sentence. It asks for a 90-day extension of the March 7, 2025 deadline, to June 5, 2025. The memorandum states that the motion claims ineffective assistance from three attorneys at three stages of the related cases, and argues that those claims waive attorney-client privilege, citing Bittaker v. Woodford, 331 F.3d 715. The government says it will file a separate application to obtain those communications through interrogatories, which it expects could take well over a month. The five-page filing is signed by an Assistant United States Attorney.

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JOSEPH T. MCNALLY 
Acting United States Attorney 
LINDSEY GREER DOTSON 
Assistant United States Attorney 
Chief, Criminal Division 
MATTHEW O'BRIEN (Cal. Bar No. 261568) 
Assistant United States Attorney 
Environmental Crimes and Consumer Protection Section  
1400 United States Courthouse 
312 North Spring Street 
Los Angeles, California 90012 
Telephone: (213) 894-8644 
Facsimile: (213) 894-0141 
E-mail: 
Matthew.O'Brien@usdoj.gov 
 
Attorneys for Plaintiff/Respondent 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
Plaintiff/Respondent, 
v. 
CARL BRADLEY JOHANSSON. 
         Defendant/Petitioner. 
No. 5:18-CR-00114-JGB 
   5:21-CR-00170-JGB 
   5:24-CV-02550-JGB 
   5:24-CV-02552-JGB 
GOVERNMENT’S EX PARTE APPLICATION 
FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO RESPOND 
TO MOTION TO VACATE, SET ASIDE, OR 
CORRECT A FEDERAL SENTENCE UNDER 
28 U.S.C. § 2255  
[Proposed] Order file concurrently 
herewith 
 
Plaintiff/Respondent United States of America, by and through 
its counsel of record, the Acting United States Attorney for the 
Central District of California and Assistant United States Attorney 
Matthew O’Brien, hereby applies ex parte for an order from this Court 
extending the time for the government to respond to the motion of 
Defendant/Petitioner CARL BRADLEY JOHANSSON to vacate, set aside, or 
correct his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. 
 
 
Case 5:21-cr-00170-JGB     Document 136     Filed 02/28/25     Page 1 of 5   Page ID
#:1184

 
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This ex parte application is based on the attached memorandum of 
points and authorities, the records and files in this case, and any 
hearing that the Court may hold in this matter. 
Dated:  February 28, 2025 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
JOSEPH T. MCNALLY 
Acting United States Attorney 
 
LINDSEY GREER DOTSON 
Assistant United States Attorney 
Chief, Criminal Division 
 
 
  /s/     
 
MATTHEW O’BRIEN 
Assistant United States Attorney 
 
Attorneys for Plaintiff/Respondent 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
Case 5:21-cr-00170-JGB     Document 136     Filed 02/28/25     Page 2 of 5   Page ID
#:1185

 
 
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MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 
The government moves ex parte for an order from this Court 
extending the time for the government to respond to the motion 
(“Motion”) of Defendant/Petitioner CARL BRADLEY JOHANSSON 
(“defendant”) to vacate, set aside, or correct his 120-month sentence 
under 28 U.S.C. § 2255.  
The initial deadline set by the Court for the government’s 
opposition brief is March 7, 2025.  The government respectfully 
requests a 90-day extension of that deadline – to June 5, 2025 – for 
the reasons set forth below. 
 
Defendant’s 128-page Motion claims that he received ineffective 
assistance of counsel from three different attorneys who represented 
him at three different stages of the proceedings in United States v. 
National Distribution Services, Inc., et al., 5:18-CR-00114(B)-JGB), 
and United States v. Western Distribution, LLC, et al., 5:21-CR-
00170-JGB (collectively, the “Related Cases”), before the Honorable 
Virginia A. Phillips, United States District Judge: 
• Defendant claims that Mark Werksman provided ineffective 
assistance of counsel in 2021 when he allegedly coerced 
defendant into pleading guilty in the Related Cases (Motion at 
16-23); 
• Defendant claims that, in 2022, Edward Robinson provided 
ineffective assistance of counsel when he allegedly failed to 
properly advocate for defendant’s unsuccessful motion to 
withdraw his guilty pleas in the Related Cases (id. at 23-52); 
and  
• Defendant claims that, in 2023, Rachel Robinson provided 
ineffective assistance of counsel relating to defendant’s 
Case 5:21-cr-00170-JGB     Document 136     Filed 02/28/25     Page 3 of 5   Page ID
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unsuccessful appeal of Judge Phillips’ denial of defendant’s 
motion to withdraw his pleas, which the Ninth Circuit dismissed 
(id. at 52-59).   
Defendant’s claims of ineffective counsel against three of his 
lawyers over a three-year period necessarily waive the attorney-
client privilege with respect to his communications with those 
lawyers.  See, e.g., Bittaker v. Woodford, 331 F.3d 715, 716 (9th 
Cir. 2003) (“It has long been the rule in the federal courts that, 
where a habeas petitioner raises a claim of ineffective assistance of 
counsel, he waives the attorney-client privilege as to all 
communications with his allegedly ineffective lawyer.”) (citing 
cases).  
Accordingly, the government will soon be filing a separate ex 
parte application requesting an order from this Court (1) authorizing 
disclosure of certain communications between defendant and Mr. 
Werksman, Mr. Robinson, and Ms. Robinson, and (2) establishing 
procedures for the government to obtain such communications.  The 
government anticipates that the process of propounding 
interrogatories to defendant’s prior counsel and obtaining their 
responses could take well over a month, and potentially much longer, 
depending on defense counsels’ schedules and whether defendant raises 
objections.  
As a result, the government believes that a 3-month extension is 
necessary to accommodate the interrogatories process necessitated by 
defendant’s Motion.   
The government has not conferred with defendant as to his 
position on this matter.  Defendant is proceeding pro se.  He is 
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currently imprisoned at FCI Lompoc I, where he is serving a 10-year 
sentence.  According to the Bureau of Prisons, defendant’s projected 
release date is August 9, 2029.  
 
Dated:  February 28, 2025 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
JOSEPH T. MCNALLY 
Acting United States Attorney 
 
LINDSEY GREER DOTSON 
Assistant United States Attorney 
Chief, Criminal Division 
 
 
    /s/   
 
MATTHEW O’BRIEN 
Assistant United States Attorney 
 
Attorneys for Respondent 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
 
Case 5:21-cr-00170-JGB     Document 136     Filed 02/28/25     Page 5 of 5   Page ID
#:1188

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