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United States v. Gilberto Ramos, 17-3680 (2018)

Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Number: 17-3680 Visitors: 15
Filed: Jul. 31, 2018
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit _ No. 17-3680 _ United States of America lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee v. Gilberto Ray Ramos lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant _ Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Fayetteville _ Submitted: July 5, 2018 Filed: July 31, 2018 [Unpublished] _ Before WOLLMAN, BENTON, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. _ PER CURIAM. After this court vacated a firearm conviction and remanded for resentencing
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                 United States Court of Appeals
                            For the Eighth Circuit
                        ___________________________

                                No. 17-3680
                        ___________________________

                             United States of America

                        lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

                                           v.

                                Gilberto Ray Ramos

                       lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant
                                       ____________

                     Appeal from United States District Court
                for the Western District of Arkansas - Fayetteville
                                 ____________

                              Submitted: July 5, 2018
                               Filed: July 31, 2018
                                  [Unpublished]
                                  ____________

Before WOLLMAN, BENTON, and KELLY, Circuit Judges.
                         ____________

PER CURIAM.

      After this court vacated a firearm conviction and remanded for resentencing,
United States v. Ramos, 
852 F.3d 747
(8th Cir. 2017), the district court1 conducted

      1
      The Honorable Timothy L. Brooks, United States District Judge for the
Western District of Arkansas.
a hearing and sentenced Gilberto Ramos to a total of 135 months in prison, at the
bottom of the Guidelines range calculated for his remaining jury-trial convictions for
conspiracy, distribution of methamphetamine, and possession with intent to distribute
methamphetamine, see 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846. Ramos appeals, and his
counsel has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 
386 U.S. 738
(1967), challenging
application of a sentence enhancement for his possession of a firearm under United
States Sentence Guidelines § 2D1.1(b)(1), despite this court’s reversal of his
conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

       A summary of the trial evidence, which was sufficient to support Ramos’s drug
convictions, is included in this court’s earlier decision. See 
Ramos, 852 F.3d at 750-51
. In part, the evidence established that Ramos received and distributed
methamphetamine from his two-bedroom apartment in Springdale, Arkansas, and that
officers who searched the apartment, which Ramos shared with a woman, found a
ledger, a digital scale, baggies, cash, and methamphetamine in the kitchen; and found
a .45 caliber pistol under the mattress in one of the bedrooms, the closet for which
contained men’s and women’s clothing. The district court, in resentencing Ramos on
his drug-related convictions, overruled his challenge to application of the two-level
section 2D1.1(b) enhancement for his possession of a firearm, finding that a
preponderance of the evidence established it was not clearly improbable that the
weapon was connected to the drug-trafficking activity. Upon careful review, we
conclude that the district court did not clearly err, see United States v. Anderson, 
618 F.3d 873
, 879-82 (8th Cir. 2010); States v. Mendoza, 
341 F.3d 687
, 694 (8th Cir.
2003); United States v. Braggs, 
317 F.3d 901
, 904-05 (8th Cir. 2003),
notwithstanding the sentencing court’s consideration of acquitted conduct, see United
States v. Watts, 
519 U.S. 148
, 156 (1997) (per curiam). We also conclude that the
district court’s imposition of a sentence at the bottom of the Guidelines range was not
substantively unreasonable. See United States v. Cromwell, 
645 F.3d 1020
, 1022 (8th
Cir. 2011).



                                          -2-
        After reviewing the record independently under Penson v. Ohio, 
488 U.S. 75
(1988), we find no non-frivolous issues for appeal. The judgment of the district court
is affirmed, and counsel’s motion to withdraw is granted.
                        ______________________________




                                         -3-

Source:  CourtListener

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