United States v. Toney , 83 F. App'x 550 ( 2003 )


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  •                           UNPUBLISHED
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,              
    Plaintiff-Appellee,
    v.                                No. 03-4504
    KENITH TONEY,
    Defendant-Appellant.
    
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Southern District of West Virginia, at Beckley.
    Charles H. Haden II, District Judge.
    (CR-02-299)
    Submitted: October 29, 2003
    Decided: December 23, 2003
    Before TRAXLER, GREGORY, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.
    Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
    COUNSEL
    Richard M. Gunnoe, ZIEGLER & GUNNOE, Hinton, West Virginia,
    for Appellant. Kasey Warner, United States Attorney, W. Chad Noel,
    Assistant United States Attorney, Charleston, West Virginia, for
    Appellee.
    Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
    Local Rule 36(c).
    2                      UNITED STATES v. TONEY
    OPINION
    PER CURIAM:
    Kenith Toney pled guilty to distribution of more than five grams
    of cocaine base (crack), 
    21 U.S.C. § 841
     (2000), and was sentenced
    to a term of 168 months imprisonment. He contests the district court’s
    determination that he failed to accept responsibility for his conduct
    under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 3E1.1 (2002). We affirm.
    Immediately following his arrest, Toney made a statement to the
    investigating officers in which he said he had made one or two trips
    a month from Ohio to West Virginia over the previous six or seven
    months, each time bringing two or three ounces of crack with him to
    sell, and making a profit of five or six thousand dollars on each trip.
    Some months later, when he was interviewed by the probation officer,
    Toney said he had lied to the officers, and that he had never before
    sold crack in West Virginia. The district court determined that
    Toney’s first statement was the more reliable one, while his second
    statement was intended to minimize his exposure. Because the district
    court found that Toney had not provided truthful information to the
    probation officer, the court denied him an adjustment for acceptance
    of responsibility.
    A defendant need not divulge relevant conduct outside the offense
    of conviction, but "a defendant who falsely denies, or frivolously con-
    tests, relevant conduct that the court determines to be true has acted
    in a manner inconsistent with acceptance of responsibility." USSG
    § 3E1.1, comment. (n.1(a)); United States v. Pauley, 
    289 F.3d 254
    ,
    261 (4th Cir.), modified, 
    304 F.3d 335
     (4th Cir. 2002), cert. denied,
    
    123 S. Ct. 1007
     (2003). Because the district court found that Toney
    had not truthfully acknowledged the extent of his criminal conduct in
    his statement to the probation officer, we conclude that the district
    court did not clearly err in denying him the adjustment. United States
    v. Ruhe, 
    191 F.3d 376
    , 388 (4th Cir. 1999) (stating standard of
    review).
    We therefore affirm the sentence imposed by the district court. We
    dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions
    UNITED STATES v. TONEY                      3
    are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argu-
    ment would not aid the decisional process.
    AFFIRMED
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 03-4504

Citation Numbers: 83 F. App'x 550

Judges: Traxler, Gregory, Shedd

Filed Date: 12/23/2003

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 11/6/2024