Filed: Jan. 03, 2007
Latest Update: Mar. 28, 2017
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 05-5205 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus LARRY ANTHONY CONNIE, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. James C. Fox, Senior District Judge. (CR-93-110) Submitted: November 30, 2006 Decided: January 3, 2007 Before KING and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 05-5205 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus LARRY ANTHONY CONNIE, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. James C. Fox, Senior District Judge. (CR-93-110) Submitted: November 30, 2006 Decided: January 3, 2007 Before KING and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. ..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 05-5205
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
LARRY ANTHONY CONNIE,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. James C. Fox, Senior
District Judge. (CR-93-110)
Submitted: November 30, 2006 Decided: January 3, 2007
Before KING and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit
Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Thomas P. McNamara, Federal Public Defender, Devon L. Donahue,
Assistant Federal Public Defender, Raleigh, North Carolina, for
Appellant. Frank D. Whitney, United States Attorney, Anne M.
Hayes, Christine Witcover Dean, Assistant United States Attorneys,
Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Larry Anthony Connie appeals the district court’s order
imposing the statutory maximum sentence of sixty months of
imprisonment upon the revocation of his term of supervised release.
Although Connie does not contest the revocation on appeal, he
maintains that the district court’s sentence was unreasonable
because the court failed to provide an explanation for imposing the
statutory maximum sentence which was a significant departure from
the Chapter Seven policy statement range. Connie also argues the
court’s sentence was premised on an improper calculation of the
policy statement range because one of the stated violations for
which he was found guilty, felony possession of cocaine, does not
qualify as a Grade A violation. For the reasons that follow, we
affirm Connie’s sentence.
Because Connie did not object to the district court’s
failure to articulate the reasons for its sentence, its policy
statement range calculations, or the sentence imposed, we review
for plain error. United States v. Olano,
507 U.S. 725, 732 (1993);
United States v. Hughes,
401 F.3d 540, 547 (4th Cir. 2005). Under
the plain error standard, Connie must show: (1) there was error;
(2) the error was plain; and (3) the error affected his substantial
rights. Olano, 507 U.S. at 732-34. Even when these conditions are
satisfied, this court may exercise its discretion to notice the
error only if the error “seriously affect[s] the fairness,
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integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” Id. at
736 (internal quotation marks omitted).
We find Connie’s first argument, that the district court
erred in failing to give reasons for imposing the statutory maximum
sentence, without merit. In United States v. Crudup,
461 F.3d 433
(4th Cir. 2006), we agreed with the Second Circuit’s statement in
United States v. Lewis,
424 F.3d 239 (2d Cir. 2005), that “a
court’s statement of its reasons for going beyond non-binding
policy statements in imposing a sentence after revoking a
defendant’s supervised release term need not be as specific as has
been required when courts departed from guidelines that were,
before [United States v.]Booker, [
543 U.S. 220 (2005),] considered
to be mandatory.” Crudup, 461 F.3d at 439 (quoting Lewis, 424 F.3d
at 245). We have also held that a sentencing court is presumed to
have considered the factors set out in § 3553(a) unless the record
indicates otherwise, and that it need not specifically address each
factor. United States v. Legree,
205 F.3d 724, 728-29 (4th Cir.
2000) (dealing with denial of motion to reduce sentence); see also
United States v. Eura,
440 F.3d 625, 632 (4th Cir. 2006) (“district
court need not explicitly discuss every § 3553(a) factor on the
record”), petition for cert. filed, U.S.L.W. (U.S. June 20,
2006) (No. 05-11659).
In this case, the district court stated that it
considered the policy statements under Chapter Seven of the
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sentencing guidelines. The record further reveals that the court
considered Connie’s children’s situation as well as Connie’s work
situation. Moreover, the court had previously modified the terms
of Connie’s supervised release which supports a sentence of
imprisonment above the policy statement range. See 18 U.S.C.A.
§ 3553(a)(2)(B) (West 2000 & Supp. 2006) (listing affording
adequate deterrence to criminal conduct as factor to be
considered). Last, the probation officer informed the court that
it could consider the fact that it had previously reduced Connie’s
sentence pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 35 as an adequate basis to
sentence Connie above the policy statement range. See U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 7B1.4, p.s., comment. (n.4) (2004).
Given the court’s stated consideration of the factors and the
adequate support in the record for the court’s decision to sentence
Connie above the policy statement range, we find that Connie can
show no plain error in this regard. See United States v. Johnson,
445 F.3d 339, 345 (4th Cir. 2006) (district court need not
explicitly reference § 3553 or discuss every factor on the record).
With respect to the calculation of the policy statement
range, the Government concedes on appeal that felony possession of
cocaine does not qualify as a Grade A violation and is instead a
Grade B violation. The Government further concedes that, based on
a Grade B violation and a category III criminal history, Connie’s
advisory policy statement range should have been eight to fourteen
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months of imprisonment. While the Government admits that the
incorrect calculation of the policy statement range was plain
error, it argues that Connie’s substantial rights were not affected
by the error.
We find that, while the district court erred in its
guideline calculation, as conceded by the Government, Connie cannot
show that the error violated his substantial rights. It is well
established that, in contrast to original sentences, district
courts are given broad discretion to impose statutory maximum
revocation sentences. Crudup, 461 F.3d at 439 & n.8. “The risk of
a district court imposing an overly aggressive term of imprisonment
is greatly reduced in the revocation sentence context.” Id. at
n.8.
In United States v. White,
405 F.3d 208 (4th Cir.), cert.
denied,
126 S. Ct. 668 (2005), employing a plain error analysis,
this court held that treating the sentencing guidelines as
mandatory was error under Booker and that the error was plain. Id.
at 216-17. However, with respect to the substantial rights
inquiry, this court found that the statutory error of sentencing
White under a mandatory guidelines regime did not warrant a
presumption of prejudice and required White to show actual
prejudice in order to establish his substantial rights had been
affected, i.e., the error must have affected the outcome of the
district court proceedings. Id. at 217, 224. We further noted
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that, under plain error review, the burden rests with the defendant
rather than the Government to prove that the error affected his
substantial rights. Id. at 223. We concluded that “the record as
a whole provides no nonspeculative basis for concluding that the
treatment of the guidelines as mandatory ‘affect[ed] the district
court’s selection of the sentence imposed.’” Id. at 223 (quoting
Williams v. United States,
503 U.S. 193, 203 (1992)).
We find that Connie fails to show that his substantial
rights were affected because he fails to show actual prejudice in
the district court’s imposition of the statutory maximum sentence
upon revocation of supervised release based on an incorrectly
calculated policy statement range. Connie cannot show any
substantial likelihood that his sentence would have been any
different had the district court computed a lower advisory policy
statement range of imprisonment. In fact, here, the district court
determined that a sentence within the range of thirty to thirty-
seven months of imprisonment was insufficient and, therefore, it
imposed the statutory maximum. Connie does not point to any non-
speculative basis for concluding that the district court would not
have arrived at the same sentence had it started at a lower range.
Because Connie fails to show his substantial rights were affected,
we conclude that he cannot establish plain error in the district
court’s erroneous computation of the policy statement range. See
United States v. Brothers Constr. Co,
219 F.3d 300, 320 (4th Cir.
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2000) (rejecting claim that the imposition of a sentence under an
improper guideline range necessarily affects a defendant’s
substantial rights and requiring actual prejudice based on district
court’s improper calculation of fine range).
Accordingly, we affirm Connie’s sentence. 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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