United States v. E. Martinez-Herrera

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ___________ No. 03-1774 ___________ United States of America, * * Appellee, * * Appeal from the United States v. * District Court for the * Northern District of Iowa. Erasmo Martinez-Herrera, * * [UNPUBLISHED] Appellant. * ___________ Submitted: September 15, 2003 Filed: September 17, 2003 ___________ Before BYE, BOWMAN, and MELLOY, Circuit Judges. ___________ PER CURIAM. Erasmo Martinez-Herrera pleaded guilty to illegal reentry after deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a), and the district court1 sentenced him to 41 months imprisonment and 2 years supervised release. On appeal, counsel has moved to withdraw and has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), arguing that the district court abused its discretion in sentencing Martinez-Herrera at the top of the applicable Guidelines range. 1 The Honorable Mark W. Bennett, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. We reject counsel’s argument because we do not review the district court’s exercise of discretion in setting a sentence at the top of a properly determined Guidelines range. See United States v. Smotherman, 326 F.3d 988, 989 (8th Cir. 2003) (per curiam); United States v. Woodrum, 959 F.2d 100, 101 (8th Cir. 1992) (per curiam). We have reviewed the record independently under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 80 (1988), and we find no nonfrivolous issues. Accordingly, we grant counsel’s motion to withdraw, and we affirm. A true copy. Attest: CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT. -2-