United States v. Benoit

Case: 08-30680 Document: 00511072677 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/07/2010 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED April 7, 2010 No. 08-30680 Summary Calendar Lyle W. Cayce Clerk UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus DORIAN LEE BENOIT, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana No. 2:05-CR-20014-1 Before DAVIS, SMITH, and DENNIS, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* The attorney appointed to represent Dorian Benoit has moved for leave to withdraw and has filed a brief in accordance with Anders v. California, 386 U.S. * Pursuant to 5TH CIR . R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR . R. 47.5.4. Case: 08-30680 Document: 00511072677 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/07/2010 No. 08-30680 738 (1967). Benoit has filed a response. The record is insufficiently developed to allow consideration, at this time, of Benoit’s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel; such claims generally “can- not be resolved on direct appeal when [they have] not been raised before the dis- trict court since no opportunity existed to develop the record on the merits of the allegations.” United States v. Cantwell, 470 F.3d 1087, 1091 (5th Cir. 2006) (in- ternal quotation marks and citation omitted). Our independent review of the record, counsel’s brief, and Benoit’s response discloses no nonfrivolous issue for appeal. Accordingly, the motion for leave to withdraw is GRANTED, counsel is excused from further responsibilities herein, and the APPEAL IS DISMISSED. See 5 TH C IR. R. 42.2. 2