United States v. Donald Bratton, Jr., No. 10-1605 (8th Cir. 2010)
Annotate this CaseCourt Description: Criminal case - Sentencing. Anders case. Sentence was not unreasonable; claim that government breached the plea agreement was not raised in the district court and would not be considered on appeal; claims of ineffective assistance of counsel should be raised in Section 2255 proceeding.
Download PDF
United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ___________ No. 10-1605 ___________ United States of America, Appellee, v. Donald Bratton, Jr., Appellant. * * * * Appeal from the United States * District Court for the Eastern * District of Arkansas. * * [UNPUBLISHED] * ___________ Submitted: July 14, 2010 Filed: July 20, 2010 ___________ Before MELLOY, BOWMAN, and SMITH, Circuit Judges. ___________ PER CURIAM. Donald Bratton, Jr., appeals the sentence that the district court1 imposed after he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). Counsel has moved to withdraw and has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), arguing that the sentence is substantively unreasonable because the court did not properly weigh the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors. In a pro se supplemental brief Bratton argues that the government breached its agreement to move for a reduced sentence, and counsel was ineffective. 1 The Honorable Brian S. Miller, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by imposing a substantively unreasonable sentence. See United States v. Struzik, 572 F.3d 484, 487 (8th Cir. 2009) (standard of review). Bratton s within-Guidelines-range sentence is presumed reasonable on appeal, and we find no indication that the court failed to consider any relevant section 3553(a) factor, gave significant weight to an improper or irrelevant factor, or committed a clear error of judgment in weighing the factors. Id. at 487-88 (sentence within Guidelines range is accorded appellate presumption of reasonableness; listing circumstances where court abuses its discretion, resulting in substantively unreasonable sentence). As to the pro se arguments, we decline to consider Bratton s newly raised contention that the government breached the plea agreement, see Stone v. Harry, 364 F.3d 912, 914 (8th Cir. 2004) (declining to consider claims first raised on appeal), and Bratton s ineffective-assistance claim is not properly raised in this direct criminal appeal, see United States v. Cain, 134 F.3d 1345, 1352 (8th Cir. 1998). Finally, having reviewed the record independently under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 80 (1988), we have found no nonfrivolous issue for appeal. Accordingly, we affirm the district court s judgment, and we grant counsel s motion to withdraw. ______________________________ -2-
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
