The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has denied a criminal defendant's arguments that her defense attorney had a conflict of interest from who paid him to represent her.

The Monday opinion in United States v. Palacios explained that defendant Gloria Ann Palacios pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. She argued that her attorney, Dallas criminal defense solo practitioner Mark Fernandez, gave ineffective assistance of counsel because of an alleged conflict of interest.

Palacios' cousin hired Fernandez to represent her and paid the attorney cash and real property, she claimed. Fernandez disputed this. Later, the cousin was also indicted for his role in a related drug conspiracy.

In October 2015, Palacios pleaded guilty in her case and said under oath that she was satisfied and had no complaints with Fernandez's representation. Before the sentencing, she and Fernandez met with a probation officer, and Palacios implicated her cousin as the organizer of the conspiracy. The probation officer suggested no reduction to her sentence because she was minimizing her own role in the crime.

At her sentencing in 2016, she got 480 months in prison and four years of supervised release.

Later, Palacios filed a motion that asserted ineffective assistance based on the alleged conflict, among other grounds. For example, she claimed Fernandez prohibited her from cooperating with the government by giving information about her cousin.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth denied all of the grounds for relief. The Fifth Circuit granted a certificate of appealability on her conflict-of-interest claim.

The Fifth Circuit's July 1 ruling denied her arguments. It said that when Palacios pleaded guilty in her case, she waived her conflict-of-interest claim. She had many opportunities to speak up about it before, and never did so.

“The record plainly demonstrates that the plea was both knowing and voluntary,” the opinion said.

Texas Lawyer wasn't able to contact Palacios, who represented herself pro se in the appeal, because she's currently incarcerated in the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida.

Fernandez didn't immediately return a call or email seeking comment. Neither did Erin Dooley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas.

Read the opinion.