United States v. Timothy Rankins , 357 F. App'x 737 ( 2009 )


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  •                     United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
    ___________
    No. 09-1935
    ___________
    United States of America,               *
    *
    Appellee,                   * Appeal from the United States
    * District Court for the
    v.                                * Eastern District of Missouri.
    *
    Timothy Duane Rankins,                  * [UNPUBLISHED]
    *
    Appellant.                  *
    ___________
    Submitted: December 21, 2009
    Filed: December 29, 2009
    ___________
    Before BYE, BOWMAN, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.
    ___________
    PER CURIAM.
    Timothy Rankins pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and
    ammunition and was sentenced to 188 months in prison. Included in the plea
    agreement was an appeal waiver. For reasons unrelated to this appeal, the District
    Court1 resentenced Rankins to 100 months, a sentence within the advisory Sentencing
    Guidelines range. His counsel has moved to withdraw and has filed a brief under
    Anders v. California, 
    386 U.S. 738
    (1967), suggesting that Rankins’s sentence is
    unreasonable. Rankins has filed a pro se supplemental brief, arguing that his guilty
    1
    The Honorable Rodney W. Sippel, United States District Judge for the Eastern
    District of Missouri.
    plea was involuntary because of ineffective assistance of counsel and prosecutorial
    misconduct.
    We have reviewed the record and conclude that any issue relating to the
    reasonableness of Rankins’s sentence falls within the scope of the waiver, that
    Rankins entered into the plea agreement knowingly and voluntarily, and that there is
    no indication that a miscarriage of justice would result from enforcing the appeal
    waiver. See United States v. Andis, 
    333 F.3d 886
    , 889–92 (8th Cir.) (en banc), cert.
    denied, 
    540 U.S. 997
    (2003). We therefore enforce the appeal waiver in this case.
    See United States v. Estrada-Bahena, 
    201 F.3d 1070
    , 1071 (8th Cir. 2000) (per
    curiam) (enforcing appeal waiver in Anders case).
    We also see no indication in the record of prosecutorial misconduct. In any
    event, Rankins’s involuntary-plea claim is not cognizable on appeal because he did
    not attempt to withdraw his plea in the District Court. See United States v. Villareal-
    Amarillas, 
    454 F.3d 925
    , 932 (8th Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 
    549 U.S. 1137
    (2007).
    Further, any ineffective-assistance claim should be raised in a 28 U.S.C. § 2255
    motion. See United States v. McAdory, 
    501 F.3d 868
    , 872–73 (8th Cir. 2007) (noting
    that appellate court ordinarily defers ineffective-assistance claims to § 2255
    proceedings); United States v. Cain, 
    134 F.3d 1345
    , 1352 (8th Cir. 1998) (declining
    to consider claim that ineffective assistance of counsel rendered guilty plea
    involuntary and suggesting that the issue should be raised in § 2255 motion).
    Having reviewed the record independently under Penson v. Ohio, 
    488 U.S. 75
    (1988), we have found no nonfrivolous issues. We therefore dismiss the appeal based
    upon the appeal waiver and grant counsel’s motion to withdraw, provided that counsel
    inform Rankins about the procedures for filing pro se petitions for rehearing and for
    certiorari.
    ______________________________
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