David Sanchez, Jr. v. Marie Vargo ( 2015 )

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 14-6619
DAVID JOSEPH SANCHEZ, JR.,
Petitioner – Appellant,
v.
MARIE VARGO, Warden, Sussex II State Prison,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Richmond. Robert E. Payne, Senior
District Judge. (3:13-cv-00400-REP)
Submitted: March 17, 2015 Decided: March 18, 2015
Before WILKINSON and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Carolyn M. Sweeney, Joshua C. Toll, Sara A. Silverstein,
Samuel E. Doran, Stephen D. Saltarelli, KING & SPALDING LLP,
Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Mark R. Herring, Attorney
General, Victoria Johnson, Assistant Attorney General, Richmond,
Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
David Sanchez, Jr., appeals the district court’s order
denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2012) petition. Sanchez
was convicted in 1999 of capital murder and related offenses and
is serving a sentence of life plus eighteen years without the
possibility of parole. The sole issue raised in this appeal is
whether Sanchez is entitled to retroactive application of
Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012). In Miller, the
Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits a
mandatory sentence of life without parole for an offender who
was under the age of eighteen at the time of the offense. Id.
at 2461. Sanchez was seventeen when he committed the relevant
crimes.
This case is governed by our recent decision in Johnson v.
Ponton, ___ F.3d ___, 2015 WL 924049 (4th Cir. 2015). In
Johnson, we held “that the Miller rule is not retroactively
applicable to cases on collateral review.” Id. at *1. In light
of Miller, we affirm the denial of Sanchez’s § 2254 petition.
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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