UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 05-4693
UNDER SEAL,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
UNDER SEAL,
Defendant - Appellant.
-----------------------
UNDER SEAL,
Movant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Richmond. Richard L. Williams, Senior
District Judge. (CR-01-186-RLW)
Submitted: January 9, 2006 Decided: March 9, 2006
Before NIEMEYER, LUTTIG, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Frank W. Dunham, Jr., Federal Public Defender, Robert J. Wagner,
Assistant Federal Public Defender, Richmond, Virginia, for
Appellant. Paul J. McNulty, United States Attorney, John S. Davis,
Sara E. Flannery, Assistant United States Attorneys, Richmond,
Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
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PER CURIAM:
Appellant appeals from the district court’s order
revoking his supervised release and imposing a twenty-four-month
term of imprisonment. Because we find no merit to Appellant’s
argument on appeal, we affirm.
Appellant asserts that he was improperly sentenced in
light of the Supreme Court’s opinion in United States v. Booker,
543 U.S. 220, 125 S. Ct. 738 (2005). In Booker the Supreme Court
applied the holding of Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 (2004),
to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and concluded that the Sixth
Amendment is violated when a district court imposes a sentence
under the Guidelines that is greater than a sentence based solely
upon facts found by the jury or admitted by the defendant. Booker,
125 S. Ct. at 752-56. Rather than totally invalidating the
Guidelines, however, the Court held that the Guidelines are no
longer binding on the district courts and are advisory only. To
effectuate this remedy, the Court severed two provisions of the
Sentencing Reform Act: 18 U.S.C.A. § 3553(b)(1) (West Supp. 2005),
requiring sentencing courts to impose a sentence within the
Guideline range, and 18 U.S.C.A. § 3742(e) (West 2000 & Supp.
2005), setting forth standards of review on appeal. Sentencing
courts are now required to consider the applicable Guideline range,
but may “tailor the sentence in light of other statutory concerns
. . . .” Booker, 125 S. Ct. at 757.
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We conclude that Booker provides Appellant no grounds for
relief. First, the Supreme Court did not totally invalidate the
Sentencing Reform Act, but in fact left the great majority of the
Act’s provisions intact and legally effective. See Booker, 125 S.
Ct. at 764 (“The remainder of the Act ‘function[s]
independently.’”). More specifically, the provision of the Act that
governs supervised release, 18 U.S.C.A. § 3583 (West 2000 & Supp.
2005), was not affected by Booker. Booker, 125 S. Ct. at 764-68.
Finally, the change effected by Booker--making the Sentencing
Guidelines merely advisory--was not a change in the manner in which
the Guidelines were applied to pre-Booker revocations of supervised
release. See United States v. Davis, 53 F.3d 638, 642 (4th Cir.
1995) (“Chapter 7’s policy statements are now and have always been
non-binding, advisory guides to district courts in supervised
release revocation proceedings.”).
We accordingly find no reversible error and affirm the
order of the district court revoking Appellant’s supervised release
and imposing a term of twenty-four months of imprisonment. 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.
AFFIRMED
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