UNITED STATES v. JAMES (2019)

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

UNITED STATES of America Plaintiff - Appellee v. Kenneth Craig JAMES Defendant - Appellant

No. 19-1718

Decided: October 24, 2019

Before GRUENDER, BENTON, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. Jason T. Griess, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office, Des Moines, IA, for Plaintiff-Appellee Kenneth Craig James, Pro Se

[Unpublished]

Kenneth James appeals the sentence the district court ¹ imposed after he pleaded guilty to a drug offense. 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), challenging the substantive reasonableness of the sentence.

After careful review, we conclude that the district court did not impose a substantively unreasonable sentence. See United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 461-62 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (discussing abuse-of-discretion review of sentence for substantive reasonableness). Having independently reviewed the record under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 109 S.Ct. 346, 102 L.Ed.2d 300 (1988), we find no non-frivolous issues for appeal. Accordingly, we grant counsel’s motion, and we affirm.

FOOTNOTES

1.   The Honorable James E. Gritzner, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa.

PER CURIAM.