United States v. Johnson

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, v.  No. 01-4787 DAVID TERRELL JOHNSON, Defendant-Appellant.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Newport News. Jerome B. Friedman, District Judge. (CR-01-50) Submitted: March 14, 2002 Decided: March 26, 2002 Before NIEMEYER and KING, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. COUNSEL Stephen A. Hudgins, Newport News, for Appellant. Paul J. McNulty, United States Attorney, Toby M. Jesson, Special Assistant United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). 2 UNITED STATES v. JOHNSON OPINION PER CURIAM: David Terrell Johnson pled guilty to assault resulting in serious bodily injury, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6) (1994), and was sentenced to a term of forty-six months imprisonment. He seeks to appeal, alleging that his sentence was disproportionately harsh. We find that Johnson waived his appeal rights and, therefore, dismiss the appeal. In his plea agreement, Johnson waived the right to appeal a sen- tence within the statutory maximum. This provision of the agreement was brought to his attention by the district court during the plea collo- quy, and Johnson stated that he understood the waiver and affirmed his intention to waive his appeal rights. A defendant may waive the right to appeal if the waiver is knowing and intelligent. United States v. Broughton-Jones, 71 F.3d 1143, 1146 (4th Cir. 1995). We find that Johnson’s waiver was knowing and voluntary and effectively bars review of his challenge to the district court’s imposition of sentence. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argu- ment, because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the deci- sional process. DISMISSED