UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 08-4283
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
DONALD R. SCHAEFER,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Florence. R. Bryan Harwell, District Judge.
(4:05-cr-01133-RBH-1)
Submitted: February 27, 2012 Decided: March 8, 2012
Before DUNCAN, DAVIS, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
T. Kirk Truslow, TRUSLOW LAW FIRM, LLC, North Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina, for Appellant. William E. Day, II, Assistant
United States Attorney, Florence, South Carolina, Carrie Fisher
Sherard, Assistant United States Attorney, Greenville, South
Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Donald R. Schaefer appeals his convictions and 192-
month aggregate sentence for Social Security fraud, mail fraud,
wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Schaefer’s counsel
has filed a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738
(1967), in which he states that he has divined no meritorious
grounds for appeal but requests that we review Schaefer’s
convictions for sufficiency of the evidence and his sentence for
error. Schaefer has filed a pro se supplemental brief. Having
reviewed the record, we affirm the judgment of the district
court.
When a defendant challenges the sufficiency of the
evidence on appeal, we view the evidence and all reasonable
inferences in favor of the government and will uphold the jury’s
verdict if it is supported by “substantial evidence.” United
States v. Cameron, 573 F.3d 179, 183 (4th Cir. 2009).
“[S]ubstantial evidence is evidence that a reasonable finder of
fact could accept as adequate and sufficient to support a
conclusion of a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Our review of the
record convinces us that sufficient evidence was presented at
trial to support each of Schaefer’s convictions.
As for Schaefer’s sentence, we review it for
reasonableness, applying an abuse of discretion standard.
2
Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007). Where, as here,
the district court imposes a departure sentence, we consider
“whether the sentencing court acted reasonably both with respect
to its decision to impose such a sentence and with respect to
the extent of the divergence from the sentencing range.” United
States v. Hernandez–Villanueva, 473 F.3d 118, 123 (4th Cir.
2007). When reviewing the reasonableness of an upward departure
sentence, we “must give due deference to the district court’s
decision that the § 3553(a) factors, on a whole, justify the
extent of the variance.” Gall, 552 U.S. at 51. Thus, even if
we could have reasonably reached a different sentencing result
than that arrived at by the district court, “this fact alone is
‘insufficient to justify reversal of the district court.’”
United States v. Pauley, 511 F.3d 468, 474 (4th Cir. 2007)
(quoting Gall, 552 U.S. at 51). Our review of Schaefer’s
sentence persuades us that it is both procedurally and
substantively reasonable, and we accordingly decline Schaefer’s
invitation to disturb it here.
In accordance with Anders, we have reviewed the entire
record in this case and have found no meritorious issues for
appeal. * We therefore affirm the district court’s judgment.
*
We have carefully reviewed each of the contentions raised
by Schaefer in his pro se supplemental brief and find that they
are each without merit.
3
This court requires that counsel inform Schaefer, in writing, of
the right to petition the Supreme Court of the United States for
further review. If Schaefer requests that a petition be filed,
but counsel believes that such a petition would be frivolous,
then counsel may move in this court for leave to withdraw from
representation. Counsel’s motion must state that a copy thereof
was served on Schaefer.
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
4