US v. Vicente Ramirez, No. 08-4393 (4th Cir. 2009)
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UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 08-4393 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. VICENTE RAMIREZ, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Florence. Terry L. Wooten, District Judge. (4:06-cr-01138-TLW-1) Submitted: February 13, 2009 Decided: March 9, 2009 Before MICHAEL and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion. Kathy Price Elmore, ORR, ELMORE & ERVIN, LLC, Florence, South Carolina, for Appellant. Arthur Bradley Parham, Assistant United States Attorney, Florence, South Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM: Pursuant to a plea agreement, Vicente Ramirez pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute a quantity of marijuana, in violation (2006). At the pronounced Ramirez s a California, 386 21 sentencing sentence counsel of has U.S. of § 841(a)(1), hearing, the ninety-three filed 738 U.S.C. a brief (1967), district months pursuant stating in court prison. to Anders in her that, there are no meritorious grounds for appeal. (b)(1)(D) v. view, Counsel questions whether the district court complied with Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure in accepting Ramirez s guilty plea, whether the sentence imposed was reasonable, and whether the district court abused its discretion in declining to make a downward variance from the advisory sentencing guidelines range. Ramirez was advised of his right to file a pro se supplemental brief, but he did not file one. and the remand oral the sentence case to imposed the We affirm Ramirez s conviction at district the sentencing court with hearing instructions but to correct the written judgment to conform to the oral sentence. Counsel raises as a potential issue the adequacy of the plea hearing but concludes that there were no deficiencies in the district court s Rule 11 inquiries. Our careful review of the record convinces us that the district court substantially complied with the mandates of Rule 11 in accepting Ramirez s 2 guilty plea and ensured that Ramirez entered his plea knowingly and voluntarily and that independent factual basis. the plea was supported by an United States v. DeFusco, 949 F.2d 114, 116, 119-20 (4th Cir. 1991). Counsel next questions the reasonableness of the sentence and whether the district court abused its discretion by denying Ramirez s motion for a downward variance sentence. We review the sentence imposed by the district court for an abuse Gall v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 586, 597 of discretion. (2007). Our review of the record leads us to conclude that the district court sentencing and followed Ramirez, considering the properly that necessary procedural calculating recommendation in the guidelines conjunction factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) (2006). S. Ct. at 597. We also find that steps the in range with the See Gall, 128 district court meaningfully articulated its refusal to vary from the guidelines range and its decision to sentence Ramirez within the advisory guidelines range. See id.; Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338, ___, 127 S. Ct. 2456, 2462-69 (2007) (upholding presumption of reasonableness for within-guidelines sentence). Thus, we conclude that the sentence is reasonable. We have reviewed the record in accordance with Anders and affirm sentence Ramirez s pronounced at conviction the and sentencing 3 the ninety-three-month hearing. We note, however, that the written judgment reflects a sentence of ninety months imprisonment. Where a conflict exists between an orally pronounced sentence and the written judgment, the oral sentence controls. Fed. R. Crim. P. 35(c) ( [S]entencing means the oral announcement of the sentence. ); United States v. Osborne, 345 F.3d 281, 283 n.1 (4th Cir. 2003); United States v. Morse, 344 F.2d 27, 30-31 (4th Cir. 1965). the district court with Thus, we remand the case to instructions to correct the written judgment to conform to the sentence announced at the sentencing hearing. This court requires that counsel inform her client, in writing, of his right to petition United States for further review. the Supreme Court of the If the client 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 the client. 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 AND REMANDED 4
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