Opinion
No. 09-3659.
Submitted: July 20, 2010.
Filed: August 2, 2010.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
Christian Sean Wilton, U.S. Attorney's Office, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellee.
Gary R. Wolf, Wolf Law Office, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellant.
Royal Joseph Louis Zeno, Bastrop, TX, pro se.
Before LOKEN, MURPHY, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.
[UNPUBLISHED]
Royal Joseph Louis Zeno pled guilty to conspiring to distribute in excess of 50 grams of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A) and 846. The district court imposed the statutory minimum sentence of 120 months in prison and 5 years of supervised release. On appeal, Zeno's counsel has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967), asserting that the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for this offense is unconstitutional.
The Honorable Richard H. Kyle, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.
Counsel's argument is unavailing. The mandatory minimum sentence under section 841 does not violate the separation-of-powers doctrine, see United States v. Prior, 107 F.3d 654, 660 (8th Cir. 1997), the Eighth Amendment, see United States v. Garcia, 521 F.3d 898, 901 (8th Cir. 2008), or the right to equal protection, see United States v. McClellon, 578 F.3d 846, 861-62 (8th Cir. 2009), cert. denied ___ U.S. ___,130 S.Ct. 1106, ___ L.Ed.2d ___(2010).
Finding no nonfrivolous issue on appeal, see Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 80, 109 S.Ct. 346, 102 L.Ed.2d 300 (1988), we affirm the judgment and grant counsel leave to withdraw, subject to counsel informing appellant about procedures for seeking rehearing or filing a petition for certiorari.