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U.S. v. Stiles

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
Jun 6, 2011
417 F. App'x 580 (8th Cir. 2011)

Opinion

No. 11-1167.

Submitted: May 26, 2011.

Filed: June 6, 2011.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.

Peter E. Deegan, Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office, Cedar Rapids, IA, for Appellee.

Jill M. Johnston, Assistant, Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender's Office, Cedar Rapids, IA, for Appellant.

Bruce Lee Stiles, Cedar Rapids, IA, pro se.

Before LOKEN, MURPHY, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.


[UNPUBLISHED]


After Bruce Stiles pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2)(A), (b)(1), the district court sentenced him within the Guidelines range to 225 months in prison. On appeal, his counsel has moved to withdraw, and has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967), arguing that Stiles's sentence is unreasonable.

The Honorable Linda R. Reade, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.

Upon careful review, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Stiles. See United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (appellate court reviews sentencing decision for abuse of discretion, first ensuring that district court committed no significant procedural error, and then considering substantive reasonableness of sentence). The court did not commit any procedural error. See id. (describing factors that demonstrate procedural error). As to the substantive reasonableness of the sentence, we find nothing suggesting that the court failed to consider a relevant sentencing factor, gave significant weight to an improper factor, or clearly erred in weighing appropriate factors. See United States v. Peck, 496 F.3d 885, 891 (8th Cir. 2007) (sentence within Guidelines range is cloaked in presumption of reasonableness on appeal; describing circumstances in which court abuses its discretion, resulting in substantively unreasonable sentence); cf. United States v. Deegan, 605 F.3d 625, 634-35 (8th Cir. 2010) (concluding that within-Guidelines-range sentence was reasonable, notwithstanding testimony of defendant's expert who believed term of imprisonment was unnecessary), cert. denied, ___ U.S.___, 131 S.Ct. 2094, 179 L.Ed.2d 896 (2011).

Having reviewed the record independently under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 80, 109 S.Ct. 346, 102 L.Ed.2d 300 (1988), we have found no nonfnvolous issues for appeal. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment and grant counsel leave to withdraw subject to her informing Stiles about the procedures for seeking rehearing and petitioning for a writ of certiorari.


Summaries of

U.S. v. Stiles

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
Jun 6, 2011
417 F. App'x 580 (8th Cir. 2011)
Case details for

U.S. v. Stiles

Case Details

Full title:UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Bruce Lee STILES, Appellant

Court:United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit

Date published: Jun 6, 2011

Citations

417 F. App'x 580 (8th Cir. 2011)