United States v. Chester Goodson , 442 F. App'x 244 ( 2011 )


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  •                      United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
    ___________
    No. 11-2634
    ___________
    United States of America,             *
    *
    Appellee,                  * Appeal from the United States
    * District Court for the
    v.                              * Eastern District of Missouri.
    *
    Chester Goodson, also known as Chess, *    [UNPUBLISHED]
    *
    Appellant.                 *
    ___________
    Submitted: December 12, 2011
    Filed: December 15, 2011
    ___________
    Before MELLOY, BOWMAN, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.
    ___________
    PER CURIAM.
    Chester Goodson appeals from the judgment of the District Court1 entered after
    he pleaded guilty to a drug offense and was sentenced to 100 months in prison plus
    four years of supervised release. His counsel has moved to withdraw and has filed
    a brief under Anders v. California, 
    386 U.S. 738
     (1967).
    To begin, we conclude that Goodson is foreclosed from challenging the validity
    of his guilty plea because (1) the plea falls within the scope of the appeal waiver in
    1
    The Honorable Carol E. Jackson, United States District Judge for the Eastern
    District of Missouri.
    his written plea agreement; (2) the record establishes, consistent with his statements
    at the change-of-plea hearing, that the government did nothing to mislead him and
    that he entered into the plea agreement and agreed to the appeal waiver knowingly
    and voluntarily; and (3) enforcing the appeal waiver will not result in a miscarriage
    of justice. See United States v. Andis, 
    333 F.3d 886
    , 889-90 (8th Cir.) (en banc)
    (describing the circumstances under which the appellate court should enforce an
    appeal waiver), cert. denied, 
    540 U.S. 997
     (2003).
    As to Goodson’s sentence, we first note that we lack authority to review the
    District Court’s denial of Goodson’s downward-departure requests. See United
    States v. Anderson, 
    570 F.3d 1025
    , 1034 (8th Cir. 2009) (holding that the appellate
    court lacked authority to review the denial of a downward-departure request because
    the defendant did not argue that the district court had an unconstitutional motive and
    because the district court recognized that it had authority to depart). We further
    conclude that the District Court’s drug-quantity determination was not clearly
    erroneous, that no significant procedural error occurred, and that the District Court
    imposed a substantively reasonable sentence. See United States v. Feemster, 
    572 F.3d 455
    , 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (explaining the standards for reviewing a
    sentence on appeal); United States v. Willis, 
    433 F.3d 634
    , 636 (8th Cir.) (noting that
    a district court’s drug-quantity determination is reviewed for clear error and will be
    reversed only if we are left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been
    made), cert. denied, 
    549 U.S. 860
     (2006).
    Finally, we have reviewed the record independently in accordance with Penson
    v. Ohio, 
    488 U.S. 75
     (1988), and we have found no nonfrivolous issues beyond the
    scope of the appeal waiver. Accordingly, we grant counsel’s motion to withdraw, and
    we affirm the judgment of the District Court.
    ______________________________
    -2-
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 11-2634

Citation Numbers: 442 F. App'x 244

Judges: Melloy, Bowman, Shepherd

Filed Date: 12/15/2011

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 11/5/2024