US v. Herminio Solano-Martinez

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 2:12-cr-00553-PMD-1. Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999264975].. [13-4512]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 13-4512

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
HERMINIO SOLANO-MARTINEZ,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Charleston.
Patrick Michael Duffy, Senior
District Judge. (2:12-cr-00553-PMD-1)

Submitted:

December 19, 2013

Decided:

December 23, 2013

Before SHEDD, DAVIS, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

J. Robert Haley, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Charleston,
South Carolina, for Appellant.
Robert Nicholas Bianchi, OFFICE
OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Charleston, South Carolina, for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Herminio

Solano-Martinez

appeals

his

conviction

and

sixty-month sentence, following his guilty plea, to possession
with

intent

violation

to

of

distribute

500

grams

U.S.C.

2

(2012),

18

(b)(1)(B) (2012).
accordance

with

§

or

more

21

of

U.S.C.

cocaine,

in

§ 841(a)(1),

Solano-Martinez’s counsel filed a brief in
Anders

v.

California,

386

U.S.

738

(1967),

stating that there are no meritorious grounds for appeal but
questioning the validity of Solano-Martinez’s guilty plea and
the

reasonableness

minimum sentence.

of

Solano-Martinez’s

statutory

mandatory

Solano-Martinez was notified of his right to

file a pro se supplemental brief but has not done so.

Finding

no error, we affirm.
Because

Solano-Martinez

did

not

move

the

district

court to withdraw his guilty plea, any errors in the Fed. R.
Crim. P. 11 hearing are reviewed for plain error.

United States

v. Martinez, 277 F.3d 517, 525 (4th Cir. 2002); see Henderson v.
Untied States, 133 S. Ct. 1121, 1126-27 (2013) (discussing plain
error standard).

A review of the record establishes that the

district court complied with Rule 11’s requirements, ensuring
that Solano-Martinez’s plea was knowing and voluntary, that he
understood the rights he was giving up by pleading guilty and
the sentence he faced, and that he committed the offense to

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which he was pleading guilty.

Accordingly, we affirm Solano-

Martinez’s conviction.
We review a sentence “under a deferential abuse-ofdiscretion standard.”
(2007).
that

The first step in this review requires us to ensure

the

error,

Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41

district

such

as

court

committed

improperly

no

significant

calculating

the

procedural

Guidelines

range,

failing to consider the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) (2012) factors, or
failing to adequately explain the sentence.

Id. at 51; United

States v. Carter, 564 F.3d 325, 328 (4th Cir. 2009).
sentence

is

substantive

procedurally

reasonable,

reasonableness

of

the

we

sentence

then

at 51.

consider

imposed,

into account the totality of the circumstances.”

If the
the

“tak[ing]

Gall, 552 U.S.

Moreover, “[a] statutorily required sentence . . . is

per se reasonable[.]”

United States v. Farrior, 535 F.3d 210,

224 (4th Cir. 2008).
Here, the district court properly calculated SolanoMartinez’s

Guidelines

sentence,

considered

the

§

3553(a)

factors, and sentenced Solano-Martinez to a sixty-month term,
the

statutory

mandatory

Solano-Martinez’s

minimum.

sentence

is

We

therefore

procedurally

and

conclude

that

substantively

reasonable.
In accordance with Anders, we have reviewed the entire
record and have found no meritorious issues for appeal.
3

We

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therefore

affirm

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the

district

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court’s

judgment.

This

court

requires that counsel inform Solano-Martinez, in writing, of the
right to petition the Supreme Court of the United States for
further review.
filed,

but

If Solano-Martinez requests that a petition be

counsel

believes

that

such

a

petition

would

be

frivolous, then counsel may move in this court for leave to
withdraw from representation.

Counsel’s motion must state that

a copy thereof was served on his client.

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

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