UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 07-4109
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
RAYMOND ANTWANE WINSTON,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Richmond. James R. Spencer, Chief
District Judge. (3:06-cr-00170-JRS)
Submitted: January 10, 2008 Decided: February 11, 2008
Before NIEMEYER, TRAXLER, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Michael S. Nachmanoff, Federal Public Defender, Amy L. Austin,
Assistant Federal Public Defender, Richmond, Virginia, for
Appellant. Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney, Olivia N.
Hawkins, Assistant United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, for
Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
A jury convicted Raymond Winston of possession with
intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base (“crack”),
in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B) (2000). The
district court sentenced Winston to eighty-four months’
imprisonment, a term of imprisonment that is within the properly
calculated sentencing guidelines range and six months from the
bottom of that range. Winston timely appealed, contending the
district court improperly commented on the Government’s evidence
and issued an erroneous supplemental instruction in response to a
jury question and imposed a procedurally unreasonable sentence. We
affirm.
The evidence adduced at trial indicated Winston possessed
6.18 grams of crack, an amount the Government’s narcotics expert
testified was inconsistent with personal use. The jury submitted
a written question and the foreperson posed a follow-up question to
the district court asking why the indictment cited five grams of
crack and inquiring whether a certain quantity of crack made a
possession with intent to distribute charge, as opposed to a simple
possession charge, mandatory. The district court told the jury it
may consider the quantity of drugs alleged by the Government, “as
was indicated by one of the witnesses,” and determine whether that
quantity “would be some indicia of intent to distribute rather than
for personal use or possession.” Winston asserted the court’s
- 2 -
reference to the Government’s narcotics expert improperly
influenced the jury’s verdict and necessitates a new trial under
Fed. R. Crim. P. 33. The district court denied Winston’s Rule 33
motion by written order, finding its response to the jury’s
questioning was neutral and accurate.
This court reviews the denial of a Rule 33 motion for
abuse of discretion, United States v. Adam, 70 F.3d 776, 779 (4th
Cir. 1995), and a district court’s decision to respond to a jury’s
question and the form of that response are likewise matters of that
court’s discretion. United States v. Smith, 62 F.3d 641, 646 (4th
Cir. 1995). It is within a district court’s province to draw the
jury’s attention to evidence the court considers important and to
comment upon this evidence whenever the court considers it
necessary. See United States v. Tello, 707 F.2d 85, 88 (4th Cir.
1983). A district court’s supplemental instruction must be
reasonably responsive to the jury’s question and address the
inquiry fairly and adequately. See United States v. Martinez, 136
F.3d 972, 977 (4th Cir. 1998).
We find no abuse of discretion. The district court did
not exceed “its inherent limitations” in commenting on the
evidence, see Tello, 707 F.2d at 88, and the court correctly noted
the jury could find Winston possessed 6.18 grams of crack with
intent to distribute. See United States v. Lamarr, 75 F.3d 964,
973 (4th Cir. 1996) (finding 5.72 grams of crack consistent with
- 3 -
distribution). The district court properly instructed the jury
that the responsibility of determining whether Winston possessed
this quantity of crack with intent to distribute resided not in the
court but in the jury as factfinder. We therefore conclude the
district court did not unfairly influence the jury through its
response to the jury’s questioning.
Winston also asserts the sentence was procedurally
unreasonable because the district court failed to give an adequate
statement of reasons for the eighty-four-month sentence in open
court. We will affirm the sentence imposed by the district court
as long as it is within the statutorily prescribed range and is
reasonable. United States v. Hughes, 401 F.3d 540 (4th Cir. 2005).
A sentence may be unreasonable for both substantive and procedural
reasons. United States v. Moreland, 437 F.3d 424, 434 (4th Cir.),
cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 2054 (2006). A district court must:
(1) properly calculate the guidelines range; (2) determine whether
a sentence within that range serves the factors under 18 U.S.C.A
§ 3553(a) (West 2000 & Supp. 2006); (3) implement mandatory
statutory limitations; and (4) explain its reasons for selecting a
sentence, especially a sentence outside the range. United
States v. Green, 436 F.3d 449, 455-56 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 126
S. Ct. 2309 (2006). A sentence within a properly calculated
advisory guidelines range is presumptively reasonable. Id. at 457;
- 4 -
see Rita v. United States, 127 S. Ct. 2456 (2007) (upholding
presumption of reasonableness to within-guidelines sentence).
Winston did not object to the presentence report’s
findings or sentencing guidelines calculations, and Winston did not
contend a variance sentence below the guidelines range was
warranted; he asserted a sentence at the bottom of the range was
appropriate in light of his history and characteristics. The
district court considered this assertion, and the court’s written
statement of reasons makes clear it consulted the § 3553(a) factors
in selecting the sentence. Sentencing was “conceptually simple,”
and the district court was not required “to write more
extensively.” See Rita, 127 S. Ct. at 2469; United States v.
Johnson, 445 F.3d 339, 345 (4th Cir. 2006) (holding district court
need not explicitly reference § 3553 or discuss every factor on
record). The sentence was presumptively reasonable, and Winston
fails to rebut this presumption when measured against the § 3553(a)
factors. United States v. Montes-Pineda, 445 F.3d 375, 379 (4th
Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 3044 (2007).
Accordingly, we affirm Winston’s conviction and sentence.
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
- 5 -