US v. James McEachern

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 1:13-cr-00322-TDS-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999540508].. [14-4459]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 14-4459

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
JAMES MILTON MCEACHERN,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. Thomas D. Schroeder,
District Judge. (1:13-cr-00322-TDS-1)

Submitted:

February 13, 2015

Decided:

March 5, 2015

Before NIEMEYER, DIAZ, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Lisa S. Costner, LISA S. COSTNER, P.A., Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, for Appellant.
Ripley Rand, United States Attorney,
Andrew C. Cochran, Special Assistant United States Attorney,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
James
Guidelines

Milton

McEachern

sentence

appeals

imposed

the

following

195-month,

his

guilty

belowplea

to

possession with intent to distribute more than fifty grams of a
mixture and substance containing cocaine base, in violation of
21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B) (2012).
district

court

offender.

erred

when

it

He argues that the

classified

him

as

a

career

Finding no error, we affirm.

We review sentences for reasonableness “under a deferential
abuse-of-discretion standard.”

Gall v. United States, 552 U.S.

38,

de

41

(2007).

conclusion

We

that

a

offender predicate.

review

prior

novo

conviction

the

district

qualifies

as

a

court’s
career

United States v. Jones, 667 F.3d 477, 482

(4th Cir. 2012).
A defendant qualifies as a career offender if he has two
prior

convictions

for

a

crime

of

violence

or

a

controlled

substance offense that were punishable by a term of imprisonment
exceeding

one

year.

§ 4B1.1(a) (2013).

U.S.

Sentencing

Guidelines

Manual

A district court must look to whether a

particular defendant could have received more than one year in
prison based upon his offense class and prior record level to
determine whether a prior North Carolina conviction may serve as
a career offender predicate offense.

United States v. Simmons,

649 F.3d 237, 244 (4th Cir. 2011) (en banc).
2

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The

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district

court

here

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concluded

that

McEachern’s

2001

conviction for possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine
was a career offender predicate.

The district court had before

it the North Carolina judgment of conviction, which indicated
that a North Carolina court sentenced McEachern on three felony
convictions, including the possession with intent to sell or
deliver

cocaine

conviction.

These

three

convictions

were

consolidated into one Class C felony based on a felony habitual
offender

charge

and

McEachern

was

ninety-three months’ imprisonment.

sentenced

court

correctly

sentence

in

determined

excess

of

one

to

seventy

to

We find that the district

that

McEachern

year

for

his

was

subject

controlled

to

a

substance

offense.
Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s judgment.
dispense

with

oral

argument

because

the

facts

and

We

legal

contentions are adequately presented in the material before this
court and argument will not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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