United States v. Newkirk , 240 F. App'x 591 ( 2007 )

Vacated by Supreme Court, January 14, 2008
UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 06-4935
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
JOHNNY LEE NEWKIRK,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. Terrence W. Boyle,
District Judge. (7:05-cr-00134-BO)
Submitted: May 23, 2007 Decided: July 11, 2007
Before WILKINSON and MICHAEL, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
David W. Venable, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant. George
E. B. Holding, 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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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:
Following his guilty plea to one count of possession of
a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A.
§§ 922(g)(1), 924 (West 2000 & Supp. 2007), Johnny Lee Newkirk was
sentenced to fifty-one months in prison. Newkirk appeals,
challenging the validity of his sentence.
Newkirk argues that his sentence was unreasonable because
it was greater than necessary to comply with the purposes of 18
U.S.C.A. § 3553(a) (West 2000 & Supp. 2007). In sentencing a
defendant after United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), the
district court must calculate the advisory guideline range and then
consider whether that range “serves the factors set forth in [18
U.S.C.A.] § 3553(a) and, if not, select a sentence that does serve
those factors.” United States v. Green, 436 F.3d 449, 456 (4th
Cir.), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 2309 (2006). This court reviews a
post-Booker sentence “to determine whether the sentence is within
the statutorily prescribed range and is reasonable.” United
States v. Moreland, 437 F.3d 424, 433 (4th Cir.) (internal
quotation marks and citation omitted), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct.
2054 (2006). “[A] sentence within the proper advisory Guidelines
range is presumptively reasonable.” United States v. Johnson, 445
F.3d 339, 341 (4th Cir. 2006) (citations omitted). “[A] defendant
can only rebut the presumption by demonstrating that the sentence
is unreasonable when measured against the § 3553(a) factors.”
United States v. Montes-Pineda, 445 F.3d 375, 379 (4th Cir. 2006)
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(internal quotation marks and citation omitted), petition for cert.
filed, U.S.L.W. ___ (U.S. July 21, 2006) (No. 06-5439).
Here, the district court sentenced Newkirk post-Booker and
appropriately treated the guidelines as advisory. The record shows
that the court considered Newkirk’s claim that his criminal history
category overstated the seriousness of his past conduct because it
asked the probation officer what Newkirk’s guideline range would be
with lower criminal history categories. Newkirk’s fifty-one-month
prison term is the bottom of the guideline range and is below the
statutory maximum ten-year sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). We
find that Newkirk has failed to rebut the presumption of
reasonableness accorded to sentences within the properly calculated
guideline range.
Next, Newkirk argues that he is entitled to be
resentenced because the district court failed to comply with 18
U.S.C.A. § 3553(c) (West 2000 & Supp. 2007), which requires
sentencing courts to “state in open court the reasons for [their]
imposition of the particular sentence.” Id. Because Newkirk did
not raise this objection in the district court, we review his claim
for plain error. United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 733 (1993).
It is undisputed that the court did not state the reasons
for the sentence in open court. However, because we find that
Newkirk has not shown that this error affected his substantial
rights, we conclude that the district court’s omission did not
amount to plain error.
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Accordingly, we affirm Newkirk’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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