United States v. Penlton
Opinion of the Court
ORDER
Dennis Penlton pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), after police searched his home with the consent of his live-in girlfriend and found in his bedroom both a loaded shotgun and a loaded pistol. The district court sentenced Penlton to 51 months’ imprisonment, the bottom of his guidelines range. Penlton filed a notice of appeal, but his appointed lawyer has moved to withdraw because he cannot identify a nonfrivolous issue to pursue. See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967). Penlton has not accepted our invitation to respond to counsel’s motion. See CiR. R. 51(b). We confine our review to the potential issues identified in counsel’s facially adequate brief. See United States v. Schuh, 289 F.3d 968, 973-74 (7th Cir. 2002).
Because Penlton has told counsel that he does not want to challenge his guilty plea, counsel properly refrains from evaluating the adequacy of the plea colloquy or the voluntariness of the plea. See United States v. Knox, 287 F.3d 667, 670-72 (7th Cir. 2002).
Counsel also considers whether Penlton could challenge his overall prison sentence but aptly rejects this challenge as well. Penlton’s within-range sentence of 51 months is presumed reasonable, see Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338, 341, 127 S.Ct. 2456, 168 L.Ed.2d 203 (2007); United States v. Aslan, 644 F.3d 526, 531-32 (7th Cir. 2011), and counsel suggests no reason to set that presumption aside. The court also meaningfully considered the sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), noting on one hand Penlton’s previous conviction for felony murder and his admission to using crack cocaine while on parole, and on the other hand his relatively clean record since his successful discharge from parole. Moreover, we agree with counsel that the court thoroughly considered a psychologist’s report offered in mitigation by Penl-ton diagnosing him with mild mental retardation and several other mental disorders.
Accordingly, we GRANT counsel’s motion to withdraw and DISMISS the appeal.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- United States v. Dennis E. PENLTON
- Status
- Published