United States v. Dwight Williams

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: February 23, 2023
• Docket: 22-4061
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

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UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 22-4061

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

DWIGHT DELL WILLIAMS, a/k/a PK,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. James C. Dever, III, District Judge. (5:20-cr-00254-D-1)

Submitted: February 21, 2023 Decided: February 23, 2023

Before NIEMEYER and DIAZ, Circuit Judges, and MOTZ, Senior Circuit Judge.

Affirmed in part and dismissed in part by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Lynne Louise Reid, L. L. REID LAW, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for Appellant. David A. Bragdon, Kristine L. Fritz, Assistant United States Attorneys, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

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PER CURIAM:

Dwight Dell Williams pled guilty, pursuant to a written plea agreement, to

distribution of a quantity of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting, in violation of

18 U.S.C. § 2; 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(C). The district court sentenced Williams

below the advisory Sentencing Guidelines range to 144 months’ imprisonment and 3 years

of supervised release. On appeal, Williams’ attorney 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 Williams’ sentence is substantively reasonable. Williams was

informed of his right to file a pro se supplemental brief, but he has not done so. The

Government moves to dismiss the appeal pursuant to the appeal waiver in Williams’ plea

agreement. We affirm in part and dismiss in part.

“When the government seeks to enforce an appeal waiver and has not breached the

plea agreement, we will enforce the waiver if it is valid and if the issue being appealed falls

within the scope of the waiver.” United States v. Boutcher, 998 F.3d 603, 608 (4th Cir.

2021) (internal quotation marks omitted). We review the validity of an appeal waiver de

novo. Id. “A waiver is valid if the defendant knowingly and intelligently agreed to waive

the right to appeal.” United States v. Soloff, 993 F.3d 240, 243 (4th Cir. 2021) (internal

quotation marks omitted). “Generally though, if a district court questions a defendant

regarding the waiver of appellate rights during the [Fed. R. Crim. P.] 11 colloquy and the

record indicates that the defendant understood the full significance of the waiver, the

waiver is valid.” United States v. McCoy, 895 F.3d 358, 362 (4th Cir. 2018) (internal

quotation marks omitted).

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Upon review of the plea agreement and the transcript of the Rule 11 hearing, we

conclude that Williams knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to appeal his sentence,

except for ineffective assistance of counsel or prosecutorial misconduct claims. Moreover,

the sentencing issue Williams raises on appeal falls squarely within the scope of the waiver.

Accordingly, we grant the Government’s motion to dismiss in part and dismiss the appeal

as to all issues within the scope of the waiver.

The waiver provisions, however, do not preclude our review of the validity of the

guilty plea pursuant to Anders. See McCoy, 895 F.3d at 364. We therefore deny the

Government’s motion to dismiss in part. Because Williams did not move in the district

court to withdraw his guilty plea, the Rule 11 hearing is reviewed for plain error. Id. Under

the plain error standard, we will correct an unpreserved error “only when (1) an error was

made; (2) the error is plain; (3) the error affects substantial rights; and (4) the error seriously

affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” United States

v. Walker, 32 F.4th 377, 394-95 (4th Cir.) (internal quotation marks omitted), cert. denied,

143 S. Ct. 450 (2022).

Our review of the record leads us to conclude that Williams entered his guilty plea

knowingly and voluntarily and that a factual basis supported the plea. See United States v.

DeFusco, 949 F.2d 114, 116, 119-20 (4th Cir. 1991). Discerning no plain error, we

conclude that Williams’ guilty plea is valid.

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

found no meritorious grounds for appeal outside the scope of Williams’ valid appeal

waiver. We therefore grant the Government’s motion to dismiss the appeal as to all issues

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within the scope of the waiver and affirm the remainder of the district court’s judgment.

This court requires that counsel inform Williams, in writing, of the right to petition the

Supreme Court of the United States for further review. If Williams 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 Williams.

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