United States v. Esteban Manale

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit

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No. 24-3091

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United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Esteban E. Manale

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant

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Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri

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Submitted: June 12, 2025

Filed: June 17, 2025

[Unpublished]

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Before SHEPHERD, ERICKSON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges.

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PER CURIAM.

Esteban Manale appeals the below-Guidelines sentence the district court1 imposed after he pled guilty to three counts of distributing child sexual abuse material

1 The Honorable Beth Phillips, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

pursuant to a written plea agreement with an appeal waiver. His counsel has moved for leave to withdraw, and has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), challenging the political nature of the Guidelines and the substantive reasonableness of the sentence.

Upon careful review, we conclude that the appeal waiver is valid, applicable, and enforceable, and that Manale’s challenges to his sentence fall within the waiver. See United States v. Scott, 627 F.3d 702, 704 (8th Cir. 2010) (reviewing de novo the validity and applicability of an appeal waiver). The record reflects that Manale entered into the plea agreement and appeal waiver knowingly and voluntarily, and enforcing the waiver will not result in a miscarriage of justice. See United States v. Andis, 333 F.3d 886, 889–92 (8th Cir. 2003) (en banc) (discussing the enforceability of appeal waivers). We have independently reviewed the record under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75 (1988), and have found no non-frivolous issues for appeal outside the scope of the appeal waiver.

Accordingly, we grant counsel’s motion to withdraw and dismiss this appeal based on the appeal waiver.

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