United States v. Cristina Briones

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: November 27, 2023
• Docket: 23-2156
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 23-2156 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Cristina Kaye Briones, also known as Cristina Briones

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Eastern ____________

Submitted: November 20, 2023 Filed: November 27, 2023 [Unpublished] ____________

Before LOKEN, ERICKSON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________

PER CURIAM.

Cristina Briones appeals the sentence the district court1 imposed after she pled guilty to drug offenses. Her counsel has moved to withdraw and has filed a brief

1 The Honorable Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa. challenging a portion of the drug weight attributed to her, and arguing that the sentence is substantively unreasonable.

Upon careful review, we conclude that Briones waived any challenge to the drug quantity attributed to her when she conceded in the district court that she was not objecting to the facts presented in the presentence report and that the Guidelines calculations were correct, and instead raised arguments on policy grounds. See United States v. Booker, 576 F.3d 506, 511 (8th Cir. 2009). We also conclude that the district court did not impose an unreasonable sentence. See United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 461-62, 464 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (standard of review). The court considered the factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), and there is no indication that it overlooked a relevant factor, gave significant weight to an improper or irrelevant factor, or committed a clear error of judgment in weighing relevant factors. See id. at 461-62; United States v. Lazarski, 560 F.3d 731, 733 (8th Cir. 2009). We have independently reviewed the record under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75 (1988), and have found no non-frivolous issues for appeal.

Accordingly, we affirm the judgment, and grant counsel’s motion to withdraw. ______________________________

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