US v. James William

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 5:09-cr-00206-FL-2 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998569050].. [10-4355]

Case: 10-4355

Document: 68

Date Filed: 04/15/2011

Page: 1

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 10-4355

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
JAMES JOHN WILLIAMS, a/k/a Shy,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.
Louise W. Flanagan,
Chief District Judge. (5:09-cr-00206-FL-2)

Submitted:

March 29, 2011

Decided:

April 15, 2011

Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

David L. Neal, Hillsborough, North Carolina, for Appellant.
George E.B. Holding, United States Attorney, Jennifer P. MayParker, Eric D. Goulian, Assistant United States Attorneys,
Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

Case: 10-4355

Document: 68

Date Filed: 04/15/2011

Page: 2

PER CURIAM:
James

John

Williams

pled

guilty,

without

a

plea

agreement, to two counts of distribution of five grams or more
of cocaine base (“crack”), and aiding and abetting the same, in
violation of 21 U.S.C. § 814(a) (2006) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (2006).
The

district

court

sentenced

Williams

within

the

advisory

Guidelines range to concurrent ninety-eight-month terms on each
count.

Williams

unreasonable.

appeals,

claiming
Williams

Additionally,

that

his

argues

sentence

that

the

is

recent

changes to the statutory provisions and Sentencing Guidelines
relevant

to

crack

cocaine

offenses,

contained

in

the

Fair

Sentencing Act of 2010, 1 apply in this case, and thus serve to
reduce his sentencing range.
sentence

and

remand

this

Williams asks us to vacate his

case

to

the

resentencing pursuant to these amendments.

district

court

for

For the reasons that

follow, we affirm Williams’ sentence.
This
applying
States,

an
552

court

abuse
U.S.

of
38,

reviews

a

sentence

for

discretion

standard.

51

see

(2007);

also

Llamas, 599 F.3d 381, 387 (4th Cir. 2010).

1

reasonableness,
Gall

United

v.

United

States

v.

This review requires

Pub. L. No. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372 (2010) (codified in
scattered sections of Title 21 of the United States Code).

2

Case: 10-4355

Document: 68

Date Filed: 04/15/2011

Page: 3

appellate consideration of both the procedural and substantive
reasonableness of a sentence.

Gall, 552 U.S. at 51.

In determining procedural reasonableness, we consider
whether the district court properly calculated the defendant’s
advisory Guidelines range, considered the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)
(2006) factors, analyzed any arguments presented by the parties,
and

sufficiently

“Regardless

of

explained

whether

the

the

below,

or
an

individualized

district

within-Guidelines

record

selected
court

sentence,

assessment

facts of the case before it.”

it

based

Id.

sentence.
imposes
must
on

an

place
the

above,
on

the

particular

United States v. Carter, 564 F.3d

325, 330 (4th Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Williams

does

not

dispute

the

calculation

of

his

Guidelines range, but argues that his sentence is procedurally
unreasonable because the court failed to carefully consider the
§ 3553(a)

factors

and

provide

an

adequate

reason

for

sentence.

A district court is not required to “robotically tick

through § 3553(a)’s every subsection” on the record.

its

United

States v. Johnson, 445 F.3d 339, 345 (4th Cir. 2006).

The

sentencing court’s explanation must be “sufficient ‘to satisfy
the appellate court that [the district court] has considered the
parties arguments and has a reasoned basis for exercise [its]
own

legal

decisionmaking

authority.’”

3

United

States

v.

Case: 10-4355

Document: 68

Date Filed: 04/15/2011

Page: 4

Boulware, 604 F.3d 832, 837 (4th Cir. 2010) (quoting Rita v.
United States, 551 U.S. 338, 356 (2007)).
After

reviewing

the

district

court

properly

considered

analyzed

the

arguments

record,

presented

we

the

by

the

conclude
§

that

3553(a)

parties,

thorough explanation of the sentence it selected.

the

factors,

and

gave

a

We therefore

hold that Williams’ sentence is procedurally reasonable.
Where there is “no significant procedural error,” we
next

assess

taking

the

“‘into

including

the

substantive

account
extent

the
of

reasonableness
totality

any

of

variance

of

the

the
from

sentence,

circumstances,
the

Guidelines

United States v. Morace, 594 F.3d 340, 345-46 (4th

range.’”

Cir.) (quoting Gall, 552 U.S. at 51), cert. denied, 131 S. Ct.
307

(2010).

Guidelines

If

range,

reasonable.

the

sentence

this

Court

is

may

within

consider

the
it

appropriate
presumptively

United States v. Mendoza-Mendoza, 597 F.3d 212, 216

(4th Cir. 2010).
Citing Rita and Kimbrough v. United States, 552 U.S.
85 (2007), Williams argues that his Guidelines sentence should
not be accorded a presumption of reasonableness, because the
sentencing
offenses

is

disparity
not

review process.
courts

to

for

based

on

crack

cocaine

empirical

and

evidence

powder
and

a

cocaine
thorough

However, Kimbrough does not require appellate

discard

“the

presumption
4

of

reasonableness

for

Case: 10-4355

Document: 68

Date Filed: 04/15/2011

Page: 5

sentences based on non-empirically grounded Guidelines.”

United

States

Cir.),

v.

Mondragon-Santiago,

564

F.3d

357,

366

(5th

cert. denied, 130 S. Ct. 192 (2009); see also United States v.
Talamantes,
While

620

F.3d

“district

Guidelines

for

901,

courts
policy

901

(8th

certainly
reasons

Cir.

2010)

may

disagree

and

may

(per

adjust

curiam).
with

a

the

sentence

accordingly[,] . . . if they do not, [appellate courts] will not
second-guess
simply

their

because

based.”

the

decisions

under

particular

Mondragon-Santiago,

a

more

Guideline

564

F.3d

is

at

lenient
not

367.

standard

empiricallyWe

therefore

conclude that the presumption of reasonableness applies to our
review of Williams’ sentence.
that

Williams

failed

to

Moreover, because we conclude
overcome

the

presumption

of

reasonableness for his within-Guidelines sentence, we hold that
the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing
him within the Guidelines range to conccurrent terms of ninetyeight months’ imprisonment.
Finally, Williams asks us to vacate his sentence and
remand this case to the district court pursuant to the Fair
Sentencing Act of 2010, which reduces the cocaine powder/cocaine
base disparity by amending the drug quantities triggering the
statutory penalties.
retroactive

and

is

However, the Fair Sentencing Act is not
only

applicable

to

defendants

their offenses after its effective date.
5

who

commit

Williams’ criminal

Case: 10-4355

Document: 68

Date Filed: 04/15/2011

Page: 6

conduct predated the effective date of the Act and thus it does
not apply. 2

Accordingly, we reject this contention.

For

the

foregoing

reasons,

we

affirm

Williams’

criminal judgment. We dispense with oral argument because the
facts

and

materials

legal
before

contentions

are

adequately

the

and

argument

court

presented

would

not

in

the

aid

the

decisional process.
AFFIRMED

2

United States v. Diaz, 627 F.3d 930, 931 (2d Cir. 2010);
United States v. Reevey, 631 F.3d 110, 114-15 (3d Cir. 2010);
United States v. Brewer, 624 F.3d 900, 909 n.7 (8th Cir. 2010),
petition for cert. filed, __ U.S.L.W. __ (U.S. Feb. 24, 2011)
(No. 10-9224); United States v. Bell, 624 F.3d 803, 814 (7th
Cir. 2010), petition for cert. filed, __ U.S.L.W. __ (U.S. Mar.
4, 2011) (No. 10-9409); United States v. Gomes, 621 F.3d 1343,
1346 (11th Cir. 2010), petition for cert. filed, __ U.S.L.W. __
(U.S. Feb. 15, 2011) (No. 10-9271); United States v. Carradine,
621 F.3d 575, 580 (6th Cir. 2010), cert. denied, __ U.S.L.W. __
(U.S. Mar. 21, 2011) (No. 10-8937).

6