United States v. Dillinger Bolden

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: January 27, 2025
• Docket: 24-4100
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

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UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 24-4100

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

DILLINGER MATSON BOLDEN, a/k/a Nuke,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Anderson. Timothy M. Cain, Chief District Judge. (8:21-cr-00490-TMC-1)

Submitted: December 12, 2024 Decided: January 27, 2025

Before WILKINSON, HEYTENS, and BERNER, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part and dismissed in part by unpublished per curiam opinion.

ON BRIEF: James A. Brown, Jr., LAW OFFICES OF JIM BROWN, PA, Beaufort, South Carolina, for Appellant. Justin William Holloway, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellee.

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PER CURIAM:

Dillinger Matson Bolden pled guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to conspiracy to

distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and

a quantity of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A), (b)(1)(C), 846. The

district court sentenced Bolden below the advisory Sentencing Guidelines range to 189

months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Bolden’s counsel has filed a brief pursuant to Anders

v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), stating that there are no meritorious grounds for appeal

but questioning whether Bolden’s sentence is procedurally reasonable because the district

court failed to adequately consider a letter he offered in mitigation. In his pro se

supplemental brief, Bolden raises the court’s alleged failure to consider the letter and

questions whether previously litigated suppression issues present meritorious grounds for

appeal. The Government declined to file a brief. As explained below, we affirm in part

and dismiss in part.

We review a criminal sentence, “whether inside, just outside, or significantly

outside the Guidelines range,” for reasonableness “under a deferential abuse-of-discretion

standard.” Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41 (2007); see United States v. Lewis, 18

F.4th 743, 748 (4th Cir. 2021). In conducting this review, we must first “evaluate

procedural reasonableness, determining whether the district court committed any

procedural error, such as improperly calculating the Guidelines range, failing to consider

the § 3553(a) factors, or failing to adequately explain the chosen sentence.” United States

v. Nance, 957 F.3d 204, 212 (4th Cir. 2020). If the sentence is free of “significant

procedural error,” we then review it for substantive reasonableness, “tak[ing] into account

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the totality of the circumstances.” Gall, 552 U.S. at 51. A sentence must be “sufficient,

but not greater than necessary,” to satisfy the statutory purposes of sentencing. 18 U.S.C.

§ 3553(a). “Any sentence that is within or below a properly calculated Guidelines range

is presumptively [substantively] reasonable.” United States v. Louthian, 756 F.3d 295, 306

(4th Cir. 2014). Such a presumption can only be rebutted by showing that the sentence is

unreasonable when measured against the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors.” Id. at 306 (internal

citation omitted).

Bolden’s sentence is procedurally reasonable. The district court correctly calculated

Bolden’s Guidelines range, afforded the parties an opportunity to present arguments as to

the appropriate sentence, and listened to Bolden’s allocution. The court also weighed the

§ 3553(a) factors it deemed most relevant and provided a reasoned explanation for the

chosen sentence. Bolden’s only challenge to the procedural reasonableness of the sentence

is whether the court adequately considered a letter offered for mitigation purposes. While

the district court did not explicitly reference the letter during the pronouncement of

Bolden’s sentence or in its statement of reasons, the court fully heard both Bolden and his

counsel on the issue and the record establishes that the court properly considered numerous

other mitigating factors, such as Bolden’s intelligence, good familial relationships,

employment history, and the need to avoid an unwanted sentence disparity between Bolden

and his codefendant. The district court made the reasoning behind its decision clear,

detailing Bolden’s criminal history and emphasizing the seriousness of a drug offense to

the community. Therefore, Bolden’s sentence is procedurally reasonable, and because

Bolden has not demonstrated that his term of imprisonment “is unreasonable when

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measured against the . . . § 3553(a) factors,” he has failed to rebut the presumption of

substantive reasonableness accorded his below-Guidelines sentence. Id. Accordingly,

Bolden’s sentence is procedurally and substantively reasonable.

In his pro se supplemental brief, Bolden also seeks to appeal the district court’s

denial of his motions to suppress. It is well established that, “when a defendant pleads

guilty, he waives all nonjurisdictional defects in the proceedings conducted prior to entry

of the plea and has no non-jurisdictional ground upon which to attack that judgment except

the inadequacy of the plea under Rule 11.” United States v. Glover, 8 F.4th 239, 245

(4th Cir. 2021) (cleaned up). Because Bolden entered a valid unconditional guilty plea, his

challenge to the district court’s denial of his motions to suppress is not properly before [this

court].” United States v. Fitzgerald, 820 F.3d 107, 113 (4th Cir. 2016). Accordingly, we

dismiss this portion of the appeal. See United States v. Bundy, 392 F.3d 641, 645 (4th Cir.

2004) (“Absent a valid conditional guilty plea, [this court] will dismiss a defendant’s

appeal from an adverse pretrial ruling on a non-jurisdictional issue.”).

In accordance with Anders, we have reviewed the entire record in this case and have

found no meritorious grounds for appeal. We therefore dismiss Bolden’s appeal of the

district court’s denial of his suppression motions, and we affirm the district court’s

judgment. This court requires that counsel inform Bolden, in writing, of the right to

petition the Supreme Court of the United States for further review. If Bolden requests that

a petition be filed, but counsel believes that such a petition would be frivolous, then counsel

may move in this court for leave to withdraw from representation. Counsel’s motion must

state that a copy thereof was served on Bolden.

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We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are

adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the

decisional process.

AFFIRMED IN PART, DISMISSED IN PART