United States Court of Appeals
                            FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
                                   ___________

                                   No. 02-2825
                                   ___________

United States of America,               *
                                        *
                   Appellee,            * Appeal from the United States
                                        * District Court for the Southern
      v.                                * District of Iowa.
                                        *
Mario Antonio Ortega-Ibarra,            *      [UNPUBLISHED]
                                        *
                   Appellant.           *
                                   ___________

                             Submitted: December 3, 2002

                                  Filed: December 16, 2002
                                   ___________

Before LOKEN, FAGG, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
                           ___________

PER CURIAM.

       Mario Antonio Ortega-Ibarra pleaded guilty to reentering the United States
illegally after having been convicted of an aggravated felony and deported, in
violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b)(2). At sentencing, the district court* denied
Ortega-Ibarra's motion for a downward departure based on cultural assimilation and
sentenced him to 70 months imprisonment and three years supervised release.



      *
       The Honorable Robert W. Pratt, United States District Judge for the Southern
District of Iowa.
      On appeal, Ortega-Ibarra's counsel has filed a brief and moved to withdraw
under Anders v. California, 

(1967). Counsel contends the district court
abused its discretion in denying the downward-departure motion. We conclude the
ruling is unreviewable because the district court acknowledged it had discretion to
depart. See United States v. Correa, 

, 417 (8th Cir. 1999). On
independent review of the record under Penson v. Ohio, 

(1988), we find
no nonfrivolous issues. Accordingly, we affirm. We also grant counsel's motion to
withdraw.

      A true copy.

            Attest:

                     CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.




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