United States v. Juan Rodriguez-Ponce, No. 15-2401 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseCourt Description: Per Curiam - Before Loken, Bowman and Colloton, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. Anders case. Defendant executed a valid appeal waiver as part of his plea agreement and this appeal is dismissed. [ November 17, 2015
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United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 15-2401 ___________________________ United States of America lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee v. Juan Rodriguez-Ponce lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City ____________ Submitted: November 16, 2015 Filed: November 18, 2015 [Unpublished] ____________ Before LOKEN, BOWMAN, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. Juan Rodriguez-Ponce directly appeals after he pleaded guilty to federal drug-conspiracy and cash-smuggling charges, and the district court1 sentenced him 1 The Honorable Dean Whipple, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri. within the calculated Guidelines range. His counsel has moved to withdraw, and has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), raising challenges to the reasonableness of the sentence that was imposed. After careful de novo review, see United States v. Scott, 627 F.3d 702, 704 (8th Cir. 2010), we will enforce the appeal waiver that is included in Rodriguez-Ponce’s written plea agreement, because the claims raised in this appeal fall within the scope of the waiver, Rodriguez-Ponce’s testimony at the plea hearing shows that he entered into the plea agreement and the appeal waiver knowingly and voluntarily, and dismissing the appeal based on the waiver will not result in a miscarriage of justice, see United States v. Andis, 333 F.3d 886, 889-90 (8th Cir. 2003) (en banc). Further, having independently reviewed the record pursuant to Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75 (1988), we find no nonfrivolous issues that fall outside the scope of the appeal waiver. This appeal is dismissed, and we grant counsel’s motion to withdraw. ______________________________ -2-
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