Filed: Mar. 30, 2012
Latest Update: Feb. 22, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 11-4600 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff – Appellee, v. COMFORT AMA NYADZOR, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. Thomas David Schroeder, District Judge. (1:10-cr-00329-TDS-1) Submitted: March 19, 2012 Decided: March 30, 2012 Before NIEMEYER, KING, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Louis C. Allen,
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 11-4600 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff – Appellee, v. COMFORT AMA NYADZOR, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. Thomas David Schroeder, District Judge. (1:10-cr-00329-TDS-1) Submitted: March 19, 2012 Decided: March 30, 2012 Before NIEMEYER, KING, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Louis C. Allen, I..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 11-4600
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff – Appellee,
v.
COMFORT AMA NYADZOR,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. Thomas David
Schroeder, District Judge. (1:10-cr-00329-TDS-1)
Submitted: March 19, 2012 Decided: March 30, 2012
Before NIEMEYER, KING, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Louis C. Allen, III, Federal Public Defender, Eric D. Placke,
Assistant Federal Public Defender, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC
DEFENDER, Greensboro, North Carolina; Tiffany D. Chadwick, WAKE
FOREST UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
for Appellant. Ripley Rand, United States Attorney, Randall S.
Galyon, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED
STATES ATTORNEY, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Comfort Ama Nyadzor pled guilty to possession with
intent to distribute heroin and was sentenced to eighty-seven
months in prison. She now appeals her sentence, raising two
issues. We affirm.
I
We review a sentence for reasonableness, applying an
abuse-of-discretion standard. Gall v. United States,
552 U.S.
38, 51 (2007). This review requires consideration of both the
procedural and substantive reasonableness of the sentence.
Id.
We first determine whether the district court correctly
calculated the defendant’s advisory Guidelines range, considered
the applicable 18 U.S.C.A. § 3553(a) (West Supp. 2011) factors,
analyzed the arguments presented by the parties, and
sufficiently explained the selected sentence. United States v.
Lynn,
592 F.3d 572, 575-76 (4th Cir. 2010). If the sentence is
free of procedural error, we then review the substantive
reasonableness of the sentence.
Id.
II
Nyadzor claims, as she did in the district court, that
she was entitled to application of the safety valve. See 18
U.S.C. § 3553(f) (2006); U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual
2
§ 5C1.2 (2010). The safety valve directs district courts in
limited circumstances to impose a sentence pursuant to the
Sentencing Guidelines regardless of any statutory mandatory
minimum sentence. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f).
The safety valve applies only when certain
requirements are met. Among these is that the defendant
“truthfully provided to the Government all information and
evidence the defendant has concerning the offense.” 18 U.S.C.
§ 3553(f)(5); USSG § 5C1.2(a)(5). With respect to this
requirement, “[t]o carry [her] burden, the defendant must
persuade the district court that [s]he has made full, truthful
disclosure of information required by the safety valve.” United
States v. Aidoo, ___ F.3d ____, ____,
2012 WL 641026, at *5 (4th
Cir. Feb. 29, 2012). The safety valve “requires broad
disclosure from the defendant; it is a tell-all provision that
requires the defendant to truthfully supply details of [her] own
culpability.”
Id. at *7. Because a district court’s decision
regarding eligibility for the safety valve presents a question
of fact, we review that decision for clear error. United States
v. Wilson,
114 F.3d 429, 432 (4th Cir. 1997).
The district court did not clearly err in denying
Nyadzor’s request for application of the safety valve.
Testimony at the sentencing hearing established that Nyadzor was
not entirely truthful with the Government. She was not, for
3
instance, forthcoming with information about certain individuals
whose telephone numbers were stored in her cell phone.
Investigation revealed that several of these individuals were
involved in ongoing drug investigations; one had been arrested
in Delaware on heroin charges. Additionally, she did not
disclose the true sources of a large amount of cash discovered
at her residence. The money was bundled in a manner consistent
with drug dealing.
III
Nyadzor claims that her sentence was unreasonable.
Because she was sentenced within her properly calculated
Guidelines range of 87-105 months, we afford a presumption of
reasonableness to the sentence. See United States v. Go,
517
F.3d 216, 218 (4th Cir. 2008); Rita v. United States,
551 U.S.
338, 347 (2007). After reviewing the record, we conclude that
Nyadzor failed to rebut this presumption. Specifically, we
reject her contention that the sentence was unreasonable because
she almost qualified (having met four of the five requirements)
for application of the safety valve. We also find meritless her
contention that she was unable to meet the Government’s
expectations of cooperation because of mental and emotional
illness. Nothing in the record supports a finding that she had
any mental problem that would have impacted her ability to
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comprehend either the need to cooperate fully or her ability to
so cooperate.
IV
We therefore affirm. We dispense with oral argument
because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented
in the material before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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