Filed: Apr. 11, 2011
Latest Update: Feb. 22, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 10-4444 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. SHAMEL L. GLOSTER, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Rebecca Beach Smith, District Judge. (2:09-cr-00094-RBS-FBS-1) Submitted: March 31, 2011 Decided: April 11, 2011 Before NIEMEYER, KING, and AGEE, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Michael S. Nachmanoff, Feder
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 10-4444 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. SHAMEL L. GLOSTER, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Rebecca Beach Smith, District Judge. (2:09-cr-00094-RBS-FBS-1) Submitted: March 31, 2011 Decided: April 11, 2011 Before NIEMEYER, KING, and AGEE, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Michael S. Nachmanoff, Federa..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 10-4444
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
SHAMEL L. GLOSTER,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Rebecca Beach Smith, District
Judge. (2:09-cr-00094-RBS-FBS-1)
Submitted: March 31, 2011 Decided: April 11, 2011
Before NIEMEYER, KING, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Michael S. Nachmanoff, Federal Public Defender, Walter B.
Dalton, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Caroline S. Platt,
Research and Writing Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellant.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney, Joseph L. Kosky,
Assistant United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for
Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Shamel Gloster appeals the forty-eight month sentence
imposed for convictions for conspiracy to defraud the United
States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (2006), false claim, in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287 (2006), theft of public property,
in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641 (2006), making a false
statement, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (2006), and making a
false statement related to naturalization and citizenship, in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1015 (2006). Gloster argues that the
district court’s upward variance sentence of seven months above
the Sentencing Guidelines range was substantively unreasonable.
Finding no error, we affirm.
Gloster was a service member in the United States Navy
from 2000 to 2009. Shamel and his wife, Beryl, were charged in
a multiple-count conspiracy involving their alleged fraudulent
marriage in an attempt to gain dependent pay for Shamel through
the Navy and for Beryl, a Kenyan citizen, to receive permanent
resident status, and eventual citizenship. After the
convictions, the probation officer prepared a pre-sentence
report (PSR), calculating Gloster’s advisory Sentencing
Guidelines range to be thirty-three to forty-one months. The
probation officer calculated the potential amount of loss at
$137,862.16. For the conspiracy and false statement related to
naturalization counts, the offense level was 14. On the counts
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of false claims, theft of public property, and false statement
related to the theft of public property, the base offense level
was 6, with a 10-level increase because the amount of loss was
more than $120,000, but less than $200,000, under U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2B1.1(a)(2), (b)(1) (2009).
Because the counts were closely related, the probation officer
determined that the final combined adjusted offense level was
16.
Although Gloster had not been convicted of a felony
prior to this proceeding, he had the following misdemeanor
convictions: shoplifting, possession of marijuana, disturbing
the peace and disorderly conduct, six reckless driving
convictions, two no operator’s license convictions, driving
while under the influence, refusing a blood or breath alcohol
test, driving on a suspended license, failure to obey a traffic
signal, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Gloster was
placed in criminal history category IV, with a resulting
Guidelines range of 33-41 months. Neither party objected to the
PSR.
Gloster requested a sentence at the bottom of the
Guidelines range. The Government requested a sentence within
the Guidelines range, but did not make a specific sentence
request. The district court varied upward from the advisory
Guidelines range and imposed a 48-month sentence on count three,
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theft of public property. The sentences for the remaining
counts were 41 months to be served concurrently.
In United States v. Evans,
526 F.3d 155, 164 (4th Cir.
2008), this court explained that, “no matter what provides the
basis for a deviation from the Guidelines range[,] we review the
resulting sentence only for
reasonableness.” 526 F.3d at 164
(citing Gall v. United States,
552 U.S. 38, 50 (2007)). In
doing so, the court applies an abuse of discretion standard.
Gall, 552 U.S. at 51; see also United States v. Llamas,
599 F.3d
381, 387 (4th Cir. 2010). This review requires consideration of
both the procedural and substantive reasonableness of a
sentence.
Gall, 552 U.S. at 51.
After reviewing for procedural error, the court next
assesses the substantive reasonableness of the sentence. This
inquiry requires the court to review “whether the District Judge
abused his discretion in determining that the [18 U.S.C.] §
3553(a) [2006] factors supported [the sentence] and justified a
substantial deviation from the Guidelines range.”
Gall, 552
U.S. at 56. The court must take “‘into account the totality of
the circumstances, including the extent of any variance from the
Guidelines range.’” United States v. Morace,
594 F.3d 340, 346
(4th Cir.) (quoting
Gall, 552 U.S. at 51), cert. denied, 131 S.
Ct. 307 (2010).
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Gloster only attacks his sentence based on the
substantive reasonableness of the variance. Gloster contends
that his variance sentence is substantively unreasonable because
it is greater than necessary to punish him and is based on the
district court’s perception of Gloster’s greed involved in the
offense, which he contends is already considered by the offense
level enhancement for amount of loss. The district court was
well within its province to make a factual determination
regarding Gloster’s motivation for the offense and to rely on
that determination, in part, to justify its decision to vary
upward. Moreover, the district court relied on several of the
§ 3553(a) factors, in addition to Gloster’s greed, at sentencing
to support its decision. In particular, the court was concerned
with Gloster’s history of reckless driving, citing the worst
driving record it had seen in twenty years and that Gloster
appeared to have little respect for the law. Because there was
no abuse of discretion in doing so, this court defers to that
reasoning. See United States v. Diosdado-Star,
630 F.3d 359,
366-67 (4th Cir. 2011) (holding sentencing court’s decision to
impose a sentence six years longer than advisory Guidelines
range was reasonable because district court employed § 3553-
based reasoning to justify the variance).
We therefore affirm the sentence. We dispense with
oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
5
adequately presented in the materials before the court and
argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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