622
Opinion of the Court
agent, when the facts were "dehors the record and their effect on the judgment was not open to consideration and review on appeal." Id., at 104. Petitioner's claim, however, differs significantly from that advanced in Waley. He is not arguing that his guilty plea was involuntary because it was coerced, but rather that it was not intelligent because the information provided him by the District Court at his plea colloquy was erroneous. This type of claim can be fully and completely addressed on direct review based on the record created at the plea colloquy.
Where a defendant has procedurally defaulted a claim by failing to raise it on direct review, the claim may be raised in habeas only if the defendant can first demonstrate either "cause" and actual "prejudice," Murray v. Carrier, 477 U. S. 478, 485 (1986); Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U. S. 72, 87 (1977), or that he is "actually innocent," Murray, supra, at 496; Smith v. Murray, 477 U. S. 527, 537 (1986).
Petitioner offers two explanations for his default in an attempt to demonstrate cause. First, he argues that "the legal basis for his claim was not reasonably available to counsel" at the time his plea was entered. Brief for Petitioner 35. This argument is without merit. While we have held that a claim that "is so novel that its legal basis is not reasonably available to counsel" may constitute cause for a procedural default, Reed v. Ross, 468 U. S. 1, 16 (1984), petitioner's claim does not qualify as such. The argument that it was error for the District Court to misinform petitioner as to the statutory elements of § 924(c)(1) was most surely not a novel one. See Henderson, 426 U. S., at 645-646. Indeed, at the time of petitioner's plea, the Federal Reporters were replete with cases involving challenges to the notion that "use" is synonymous with mere "possession." See, e. g., United States v. Cooper, 942 F. 2d 1200, 1206 (CA7 1991) (appeal from plea of guilty to "use" of a firearm in violation of
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