United States v. Allen

Rehearing granted, June 2, 2005 UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, v.  No. 03-4035 SHAWN LEE ALLEN, a/k/a Sean Allen, Defendant-Appellant.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Richmond. Richard L. Williams, Senior District Judge. (CR-02-107) Submitted: May 6, 2003 Decided: June 4, 2003 Before WIDENER, NIEMEYER, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. COUNSEL David Lassiter, Jr., JEFFERSON & LASSITER, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellant. Paul J. McNulty, United States Attorney, Olivia N. Hawkins, Assistant United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). 2 UNITED STATES v. ALLEN OPINION PER CURIAM: Shawn Lee Allen appeals his conviction and 151-month sentence for conspiracy to distribute more than fifty grams of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (2000). Allen first challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conspiracy to distribute cocaine base conviction. He argues that no physical evidence such as drugs, photographs, tapes, or fingerprints were presented at trial, and therefore the evidence is insufficient. However, physical evidence is not required to prove involvement in a drug distribution conspiracy. Allen’s coconspirators testified to Allen’s involvement in drug transactions spanning several years. Fur- thermore, a drug conspiracy is often proven entirely by such circum- stantial evidence. See United States v. Burgos, 94 F.3d 849, 857 (4th Cir. 1996). Allen also contends the district court demonstrated bias against him. However, he has presented no evidence of any improper state- ments or conduct by the district court. Accordingly, we affirm Allen’s conviction and sentence. We dis- pense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions were adequately presented in the materials before the court. AFFIRMED