USA v. Efrain Rodriguez

Filing

NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION Coram: FISHER, KRAUSE and GREENBERG, Circuit Judges. Total Pages: 3. Judge: GREENBERG Authoring. We grant the motion to withdraw as counsel.

Case: 16-1732

Document: 003112490374

Page: 1

Date Filed: 12/16/2016

NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
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No. 16-1732
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
EFRAIN RODRIGUEZ,
Appellant
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On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
(M.D. Pa. No. 3-15-cr-00203-001)
Honorable Robert D. Mariani, District Judge
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Submitted under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
December 9, 2016
BEFORE: FISHER, KRAUSE, and GREENBERG, Circuit Judges
(Filed: December 16, 2016)
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OPINION*
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GREENBERG, Circuit Judge.

*

This disposition is not an opinion of the full court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7
does not constitute binding precedent.

Case: 16-1732

Document: 003112490374

Page: 2

Date Filed: 12/16/2016

This matter comes on before this Court on appeal from a judgment of conviction
and sentence entered in the District Court on March 15, 2016, pursuant to defendantappellant Efrain Rodriguez’s plea of guilty to a charge under 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6). A
grand jury in the Middle District of Pennsylvania returned a two-count indictment against
Rodriguez, an inmate in the United States Penitentiary Canaan in Waymart,
Pennsylvania, for intentionally assaulting another inmate and causing him serious bodily
injury contrary to 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6) (Count 1) and knowingly possessing a prohibited
object, namely a homemade shank fashioned from a razor blade and a toothbrush that
was designed and intended to be used as a weapon, contrary to 18 U.S.C. § 1791(a)(2)
and (b)(3) (Count II).
Pursuant to a plea agreement, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to Count I of the
indictment. The agreement provided that after sentencing on Count I the government
would move to dismiss Count II. The probation department in a presentence report
concluded that Rodriguez’s total offense level was 21 and his criminal history category
was VI. These calculations resulted in an advisory guideline range of 77 to 96 months,
calculations that Rodriguez does not challenge. Rodriguez did not ask the Court for a
departure from the advisory guideline range but his attorney unsuccessfully moved for a
seven-month downward variance from that range.
After Rodriguez addressed the Court it sentenced him to an 80-month custodial
term to run consecutively to the custodial term he already was serving, to be followed by
a three-year term of supervised release to run concurrently with the term of supervised
release that he would serve after completing the custodial term that he already was
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Case: 16-1732

Document: 003112490374

Page: 3

Date Filed: 12/16/2016

serving. The Court also dismissed Count II of the indictment. Though Rodriguez does
not contend that the sentence was not authorized by the plea agreement, he nevertheless
appeals.
The Federal Public Defender has filed a motion pursuant to Anders v. California,
386 U.S. 739, 87 S.Ct. 1396 (1967), and Third Circuit LAR 109.2 seeking to withdraw as
counsel for Rodriguez. In his motion, the Federal Public Defender has indicated that
“[a]fter careful review of the record and applicable law, [he] has not been able to identify
any issue of even arguable merit that could be raised on Rodriguez’s behalf.”
We, too, have examined the record and, like Rodriguez’s attorney, have not found
any meritorious issue that could be raised on Rodriguez’s behalf. Actually, Rodriguez
obtained a result that was about as favorable as he could have expected. After all, the
District Court sentenced him to a term that was only three months above the bottom of
the advisory guideline range and it dismissed the second count of the two-count
indictment in accordance with the plea agreement.
For the foregoing reasons, we grant the Federal Public Defender’s motion to
withdraw as counsel for Rodriguez and will affirm the judgment of conviction and
sentence entered on March 16, 2016.

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