Filed: Nov. 07, 2005
Latest Update: Feb. 12, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 05-4534 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus RONNIE CLARK, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Durham. Frank W. Bullock, Jr., District Judge. (CR-04-346) Submitted: October 14, 2005 Decided: November 7, 2005 Before NIEMEYER and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. W
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 05-4534 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus RONNIE CLARK, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Durham. Frank W. Bullock, Jr., District Judge. (CR-04-346) Submitted: October 14, 2005 Decided: November 7, 2005 Before NIEMEYER and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Wi..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 05-4534
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
RONNIE CLARK,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Durham. Frank W. Bullock, Jr.,
District Judge. (CR-04-346)
Submitted: October 14, 2005 Decided: November 7, 2005
Before NIEMEYER and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
William L. Osteen, Jr., ADAMS & OSTEEN, Greensboro, North Carolina,
for Appellant. Anna Mills Wagoner, United States Attorney, Michael
F. Joseph, Assistant United States Attorney, Greensboro, North
Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Ronnie Clark pled guilty to possession with intent to
distribute approximately twenty-eight grams of crack cocaine, in
violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (2000), and possession of
thirty firearms by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C.
§ 922(g)(1) (2000). The district court sentenced Clark as an armed
career criminal to a total sentence of 200 months of imprisonment.
Clark appeals his sentence, asserting that the district court erred
by sentencing him as an armed career criminal. The Government
asserts that Clark validly waived the right to appeal his sentence
in the plea agreement. We agree with the Government and dismiss
the appeal.
A defendant may waive the right to appeal if that waiver
is knowing and intelligent. United States v. Brown,
232 F.3d 399,
402-03 (4th Cir. 2000). Generally, if the district court fully
questions a defendant regarding the waiver of his right to appeal
during the Fed. R. Crim. P. 11 colloquy, the waiver is both valid
and enforceable. United States v. Wessells,
936 F.2d 165, 167-68
(4th Cir. 1991); United States v. Wiggins,
905 F.2d 51, 53-54 (4th
Cir. 1990). A waiver of appeal does not prohibit the appeal of a
sentence imposed in excess of the statutory maximum, a sentence
based on a constitutionally impermissible factor such as race,
United States v. Marin,
961 F.2d 493, 496 (4th Cir. 1992), or
proceedings conducted in violation of the Sixth Amendment right to
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counsel following the entry of the guilty plea. United States v.
Attar,
38 F.3d 727, 732-33 (4th Cir. 1994).
Clark does not challenge the voluntariness of the waiver
of his right to appeal. See United States v. Blick,
408 F.3d 162,
169-73 (4th Cir. 2005) (holding that plea agreement waiver of right
to appeal that district court accepted prior to Supreme Court’s
decision in United States v. Booker,
125 S. Ct. 738 (2005), was not
invalidated by change in law effected by that decision). Moreover,
contrary to Clark’s assertion, the issue raised on appeal falls
within the scope of the waiver. See
Blick, 408 F.3d at 169 n.7
(concluding that “the [Supreme] Court’s use of the term ‘statutory
maximum’ in Blakely [v. Washington,
542 U.S. 296 (2004)] and Booker
does not alter the meaning of the language in the appeal waiver”).
Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal. We dispense with
oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument
would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED
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