US v. Veronica Jone

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 1:13-cr-00451-WO-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999497052].. [14-4492]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 14-4492

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff – Appellee,
v.
VERONICA LEVONNE JONES,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Greensboro.
William L. Osteen,
Jr., Chief District Judge. (1:13-cr-00451-WO-1)

Submitted:

December 16, 2014

Decided:

December 19, 2014

Before WILKINSON, SHEDD, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Louis C. Allen, Federal Public Defender, Mireille P. Clough,
Assistant
Federal
Public
Defender,
Winston-Salem,
North
Carolina, for Appellant. Stephen Thomas Inman, OFFICE OF THE
UNITED
STATES
ATTORNEY,
Greensboro,
North
Carolina,
for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Veronica Levonne Jones appeals from her conviction and
thirty-nine month sentence imposed pursuant to her guilty plea
to filing false tax returns and aggravated identity theft.

On

appeal,

v.

counsel

has

California,

386

meritorious

issues

sentence

was

sentencing.

filed

U.S.

738

for

greater
The

a

brief

(1967),

appeal
than

pursuant

averring

but

Government

has

that

questioning

necessary

to

to

Anders

there
whether

meet

the

to

file

declined

are

no

Jones’

goals
a

of

brief.

Although informed of her right to do so, Jones has declined to
file a pro se supplemental brief.
Jones

contends

that

We affirm.

her

fifteen-month

sentence

for

filing false tax returns is substantively unreasonable because
it

is

greater

than

necessary

U.S.C. § 3553(a) (2012).

to

accomplish

the

goals

of

18

She avers that, given the mandatory

two-year, consecutive sentence on the identity theft charges and
her mitigating circumstances, the sentence was too harsh.

We

review a sentence for reasonableness, applying “a deferential
abuse of discretion standard.”
38, 41 (2007).

Gall v. United States, 552 U.S.

We examine the substantive reasonableness of the

sentence under “the totality of the circumstances.”
A
Guidelines

sentence
range

is

“within

or

below

presumptively

a

Id. at 51.

properly

reasonable

[on

calculated
appeal].”

United States v. Louthian, 756 F.3d 295, 306 (4th Cir.), cert.
2

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denied, 135 S. Ct. 421 (2014).

The defendant bears the burden

to

showing

rebut

this

presumption

“by

that

the

sentence

is

unreasonable when measured against the . . . § 3553(a) factors.”
Id.
court

In evaluating the sentence for an abuse of discretion, this
“give[s]

due

deference

to

the

[d]istrict

[c]ourt’s

reasoned and reasonable decision that the § 3553(a) factors, on
the whole, justified the sentence.”
Considering

the

totality

Gall, 552 U.S. at 59-60.
of

the

circumstances,

we

conclude that Jones cannot rebut the presumption of substantive
reasonableness accorded to her within-Guidelines sentence.

To

the extent Jones attacks the district court’s failure to give
more

weight

to

her

mitigating

circumstances,

the

court

considered Jones’ lengthy oral argument requesting a 12-15 month
sentence and noted the mitigating concerns, but declined to vary
her sentence after weighing all the factors in the case.

The

court found that the totality of the circumstances warranted the
most lenient sentence within the Guidelines range but did not
warrant a variance.

Given the district court’s consideration of

the relevant § 3553(a) factors and the fact that the imposed
sentence

fell

within

Jones’

requested

range,

the

court’s

decision was not an abuse of discretion.
In accordance with Anders, we have reviewed the entire
record in this case for meritorious issues and have found none.
Accordingly, we affirm Jones’ convictions and sentence.
3

This

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court requires that counsel inform his client, in writing, of
her right to petition the Supreme Court of the United States for
further
filed,

review.
but

If

counsel

the

client

believes

requests

that

such

that
a

a

petition

petition

would

be
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 the client.

We dispense with oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately
presented in the materials before this court and argument would
not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED

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