US v. Steve Grogan

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 7:11-cr-00021-SGW-1. Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998923982]. [11-4809]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 11-4809

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
STEVE EDWARD GROGANS,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Roanoke.
Samuel G. Wilson, District
Judge. (7:11-cr-00021-SGW-1)

Submitted:

August 20, 2012

Before KING and
Circuit Judge.

SHEDD,

Circuit

Decided:

Judges,

and

August 24, 2012

HAMILTON,

Senior

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Helen E. Phillips, ALLEN, KOPET & ASSOCIATES, PLLC, Bristol,
Virginia, for Appellant.
Timothy J. Heaphy, United States
Attorney, Kartic Padmanabhan, Assistant United States Attorney,
Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Steve

Edward

Grogans

appeals

the

district

court’s

sentence of 300 months’ imprisonment imposed after his plea of
guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

On

appeal, Grogans contends that his sentence, which was ninety
months above the top of the applicable Guidelines range, was
unreasonable and that the district court erred in sentencing him
in the absence of objections to the presentence report.

We

affirm.
This court “review[s] a sentence for reasonableness,
applying an abuse of discretion standard.”

United States v.

Susi, 674 F.3d 278, 282 (4th Cir. 2012).

When the district

court

imposes

a

sentence

outside

the

Guidelines’

range,

“we

consider whether the sentencing court acted reasonably both with
respect

to

its

decision

respect

to

the

extent

range.”
123

(4th

to

of

impose

the

such

divergence

a

sentence

from

the

and

with

sentencing

United States v. Hernandez-Villanueva, 473 F.3d 118,
Cir.

2007)

We

will

affirm

if

“the

[18

U.S.C.]

§ 3553(a) [2006] factors, on the whole, justified the sentence”
imposed.

United States v. Diosdado-Star, 630 F.3d 359, 367 (4th

Cir. 2011) (internal quotation marks omitted), cert. denied, 131
S. Ct. 2946 (2011).
Grogans

asserts

that

the

upward

variance

was

not

warranted because the Guidelines and the Armed Career Criminal
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Act took into account his criminal history.

We have reviewed

the record and conclude that the district court considered the
parties’ arguments and fully explained its decision pursuant to
the

§ 3553(a)

factors,

particularly

Grogans’

extraordinary

criminal history over a lengthy period of time, the likelihood
of recidivism, and the need to protect the public from Grogans.
Grogans has failed to demonstrate an abuse of discretion.
Grogans also argues that the district court erred by
sentencing him as an armed career criminal in the absence of
objections to the source of the documents used to establish his
predicate convictions.

Because trial counsel did not object to

the presentence report, we review for plain error.

See United

States v. Wallace, 515 F.3d 327, 332 (4th Cir. 2008).

Grogans

must establish that an error occurred, that the error was plain,
and that the error affected his substantial rights.
States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 732 (1993).

See United

Grogans fails to

identify any objection trial counsel should have made to the
presentence report.

We thus conclude that Grogans has failed to

demonstrate plain error pursuant to Olano.
Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s judgment.
We

dispense

with

oral

argument

because

the

facts

and

legal

contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the
court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
3