United States v. Doncouri Wells, No. 15-1782 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseCourt Description: Per Curiam - Before Benton, Bowman and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. Anders case. Defendant knowingly and explicitly exposed himself to a 300 month sentence in his written plea agreement, and the court would not review his challenge to the substantive reasonableness of the sentence.
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United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 15-1782 ___________________________ United States of America lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee v. Doncouri Wells, also known as "D" lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Fayetteville ____________ Submitted: January 26, 2016 Filed: January 29, 2016 [Unpublished] ____________ Before BENTON, BOWMAN, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. Doncouri Wells directly appeals the 300-month sentence the district court1 imposed after he pled guilty to a child sex-trafficking offense. His counsel has moved 1 The Honorable P.K. Holmes, III, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. to withdraw, and has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), arguing that the sentence is substantively unreasonable. Wells has filed a pro se supplemental brief, arguing that a Guidelines enhancement should not have been applied. In his written plea agreement, Wells stipulated that a sentence of 300 months in prison would be reasonable and appropriate. At his change-of-plea hearing, he confirmed under oath that he had freely and voluntarily entered into the plea agreement, including the stipulation regarding a 300-month prison term, which was below the statutory maximum of life in prison. Thus, upon careful review, we decline to review the issues raised on appeal. See United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 733 (1993) (waiver is intentional abandonment of known right and results in issue being unreviewable on appeal); United States v. Nguyen, 46 F.3d 781, 783 (8th Cir. 1995) (defendant who explicitly and voluntarily exposes himself to specific sentence may not challenge it on appeal). Having independently reviewed the record pursuant to Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75 (1988), we find no nonfrivolous issues that are appropriate for review. Counsel’s motion to withdraw is granted, and the judgment is affirmed. ______________________________ -2-
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