United States v. Bailey

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. No. 99-4385 JEFFREY SCOTT BAILEY, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Durham. James A. Beaty, Jr., District Judge. (CR-98-344) Submitted: December 16, 1999 Decided: January 13, 2000 Before MURNAGHAN and MOTZ, Circuit Judges, and BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge. _________________________________________________________________ Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. _________________________________________________________________ COUNSEL Louis C. Allen III, Federal Public Defender; Eric D. Placke, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellant. Walter C. Holton, Jr., United States Attorney, Michael F. Joseph, Assistant United States Attorney, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee. _________________________________________________________________ Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). _________________________________________________________________ OPINION PER CURIAM: Jeffrey Scott Bailey pled guilty to possession of a firearm by a con- victed felon, see 18 U.S.C.A. § 922(g)(1) (West Supp. 1999), and was sentenced to a term of sixty-three months imprisonment. Bailey's attorney has filed a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), raising one issue but indicating that, in his view, there are no meritorious issues for appeal. Bailey has been informed of his right to file a pro se supplemental brief but has not filed a brief. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the conviction and sentence. In the Anders brief, counsel challenges the district court's decision to impose sentence at the top of the guideline range of 51-63 months. We have held, however, that a sentencing court has complete discre- tion to impose sentence at any point within a correctly calculated guideline range, and the appeals court lacks jurisdiction to review its decision. See United States v. Jones, 18 F.3d 1145, 1151 (4th Cir. 1994). Bailey made no objection to the calculation of the guideline range in the district court, thereby forfeiting the issue, and no error is evident in the record. Pursuant to Anders, this court has reviewed the record for revers- ible error and found none. We therefore affirm the conviction and sentence. This court requires that counsel inform his client, in writing, of his right to petition the Supreme Court of the United States for fur- ther review. If the client requests that a petition be filed, then counsel may move this court for leave to withdraw from representation. Coun- sel's motion must state that a copy thereof was served on the client. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal conten- tions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED 2