United States v. Spain

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. No. 99-4457 MICHAEL A. SPAIN, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Richmond. James R. Spencer, District Judge. (CR-99-8) Submitted: July 25, 2000 Decided: August 11, 2000 Before WIDENER, MURNAGHAN, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges. _________________________________________________________________ Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. _________________________________________________________________ COUNSEL Beverly M. Murray, Petersburg, Virginia, for Appellant. Helen F. Fahey, United States Attorney, S. David Schiller, Assistant United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee. _________________________________________________________________ Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). OPINION PER CURIAM: Michael A. Spain pled guilty to one count of possession of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 844 (West 1999) and one count of pos- session of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 922(g)(1) (West 2000). The district court sentenced Spain to twenty-four months in prison on the drug conviction and a concurrent eighty-four months in prison on the firearm conviction. Spain appeals, claiming that he was entitled to a downward departure due to the quantity of drugs involved and that the district court erred by increas- ing his offense level for obstruction of justice. We dismiss the appeal. In his plea agreement, Spain waived the right to appeal any sen- tence within the statutory maximum. The district court accepted Spain's guilty plea at a hearing conducted in accordance with Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. We have reviewed Spain's plea agreement and the Rule 11 colloquy and find that Spain made a knowing and intelligent waiver of his right to appeal. See United States v. Broughton-Jones, 71 F.3d 1143, 1146 (4th Cir. 1995). Because Spain's sentence was within the statutory maximum, we dismiss the appeal. 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. DISMISSED 2