Filed: Apr. 22, 2009
Latest Update: Feb. 12, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 08-4723 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. ALBERT E. PARISH, JR., Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Charleston. David C. Norton, District Judge. (2:07-cr-00578-DCN-1) Submitted: April 16, 2009 Decided: April 22, 2009 Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Mary Gordon Baker, Assist
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 08-4723 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. ALBERT E. PARISH, JR., Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Charleston. David C. Norton, District Judge. (2:07-cr-00578-DCN-1) Submitted: April 16, 2009 Decided: April 22, 2009 Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Mary Gordon Baker, Assista..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 08-4723
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
ALBERT E. PARISH, JR.,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Charleston. David C. Norton, District Judge.
(2:07-cr-00578-DCN-1)
Submitted: April 16, 2009 Decided: April 22, 2009
Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Mary Gordon Baker, Assistant Federal Public Defender,
Charleston, South Carolina, for Appellant. Eric John Klumb,
Assistant United States Attorney, Charleston, South Carolina,
for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Albert E. Parish, Jr., appeals his conviction and
sentence for mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1341
(West 2000 & Supp. 2007) (Counts One and Four), and making a
materially false statement, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1001
(West 2000 & Supp. 2007) (Count Eleven). The district court
sentenced Parish to 292 months’ total imprisonment, three years
of supervised release, and ordered Parish to pay $66,820,167.08
in restitution. Parish’s attorney has filed a brief in
accordance with Anders v. California,
386 U.S. 738 (1967),
challenging the district court’s finding relative to the amount
of loss and claiming abuse of discretion in the imposition of a
within-guidelines sentence, but concluding that there are no
meritorious issues for appeal. Parish has filed a supplemental
pro se brief, in which he asserts error in the district court’s
rejection of his claim and supporting evidence that his sentence
was disparate in contravention of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(6), and
contends that his attorney was ineffective. We affirm.
Parish’s first claim, by counsel, is that the district
court clearly erred in failing to credit the value of property
and assets bought with the investors’ money in determining the
amount of loss. We find his assertion to be without merit,
given the uncontroverted testimony of the court-appointed
receiver that, even if the seized assets were credited against
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the loss for guidelines purposes, the amount of loss could not
go below $50,000,000. 1
Parish also alleges that the district court should
have sentenced him below the applicable guidelines range to
avoid unwarranted disparities. A sentence is reviewed for abuse
of discretion, Gall v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 586, 597
(2007). Applying a presumption of reasonableness on appeal to
the guidelines sentence, see United States v. Go,
517 F.3d 216,
218 (4th Cir. 2008); see also Rita v. United States,
127 S. Ct.
2456, 2462-69 (2007), we conclude that Parish has not rebutted
the presumption of reasonableness and that his sentence is
reasonable. 2
Finally, Parish’s claim that his attorney was
ineffective for failing to request a postponement of the offense
level calculation until the asset liquidation was complete must
1
Parish was held accountable for an intended loss of over
$50,000,000 but less than $100,000,000.
2
Even accepting as true Parish’s claim that his sentence
was more severe than the average sentence imposed nationally in
similar fraud cases does not establish that the district court’s
sentence in this case failed to address the “need to avoid
unwarranted sentence disparities” recognized in § 3553(a)(6).
The guidelines as a whole embrace and encompass this need to
avoid disparity, see United States v. Johnson,
445 U.S. 339, 343
(4th Cir. 2006), and the district court’s sentencing memorandum
in this case reflects its careful consideration of all
applicable evidence, including that presented by Parish, on this
issue.
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be brought in a collateral proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 2255
(2000), unless it conclusively appears from the face of the
record that his counsel was ineffective. United States v.
Richardson,
195 F.3d 192, 198 (4th Cir. 1999). Parish can make
no such showing in this case.
In accordance with Anders, we have reviewed the entire
record in this case and have found no meritorious issues for
appeal. We therefore affirm Parish’s conviction and sentence.
This court requires that counsel inform her client, in writing,
of his right to petition the Supreme Court of the United States
for further review. If the client requests that a petition be
filed, but counsel believes that such a petition would be
frivolous, then counsel may move in this court for leave to
withdraw from representation. Counsel’s motion must state that
a copy thereof was served on the client. 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.
AFFIRMED
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