United States v. Anthony LeFlore
United States v. Anthony LeFlore
Opinion
Anthony LeFlore, who has two prior felony convictions, traded drugs to minors in exchange for guns-one of which he sold to a confidential informant. He pleaded guilty to the illegal possession of a firearm.
See
Counsel first explains that he advised LeFlore of the possible disadvantages of contesting the adequacy of the plea colloquy and that LeFlore wants to challenge only his sentence. Counsel thus properly declines to discuss arguments related to the plea.
See
United States v. Konczak
,
Counsel then considers arguing that the district judge erroneously determined that LeFlore had 15 criminal history points, but he decides that it would be frivolous to do so. The judge, however, did make an error, in calculating the criminal history points. The Guidelines treat sentences that are "imposed on the same day" as one when scoring a defendant's criminal history, unless there was an intervening arrest. U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(a)(2) ;
see also
Molina-Martinez v. United States
, --- U.S. ----,
Still, any challenge based on the miscalculation would be frivolous because we would conclude that the judge's error was harmless. An error is harmless if it did not affect the ultimate sentence imposed.
See
United States v. Shelton
,
At no point during sentencing did the judge give any indication that he would have imposed a lower sentence if LeFlore remained in the same criminal history category with fewer criminal history points. As other circuits have done under similar circumstances, we would conclude that the miscalculation of LeFlore's criminal history points, which did not change the applicable criminal history category, was harmless.
See, e.g.,
United States v. Isaac
,
Counsel then considers arguing that the court applied an excessively high base-offense level built on an erroneous conclusion that two of LeFlore's prior Illinois convictions (for second-degree murder, 720 ILCS 5/9-2, and domestic battery, 720 ILCS 5/12-3.2 ) were for crimes of violence.
See
U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(2). He rightly concludes, though, that the argument would be frivolous. A conviction under Illinois's second-degree murder statute is a crime of violence.
United States v. Teague
,
Counsel next contemplates arguing that the sentence was substantively unreasonable. But counsel accurately concludes that this argument would be frivolous, too. The district court appropriately considered the § 3553(a) factors, including the seriousness of the offense (LeFlore traded drugs to juveniles for guns), and LeFlore's history and characteristics (LeFlore's criminal history category did not reflect his numerous other convictions during his "32-year crime spree"). The sentence, the court stated, was necessary to punish and deter LeFlore, as well as to protect the public, given his extensive criminal history. Counsel suggests that the court erred by not addressing LeFlore's argument that his history of alcohol and drug use were mitigating factors. A district court, however, need not expansively respond to every argument if its reasoning is otherwise clear, and it need not respond at all to stock arguments.
See
United States v. Graham
,
Last, counsel assesses potential challenges to LeFlore's conditions while on supervised release, but he correctly determines that LeFlore waived any such challenge. A defendant waives appellate arguments against supervisory conditions when he has a chance to review them before sentencing and does not object to them.
See
United States v. St. Clair
, No. 18-1933,
We therefore GRANT counsel's motion to withdraw and DISMISS the appeal.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Anthony J. LEFLORE, Defendants-Appellant.
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published