United States v. Velma Taper

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit

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No. 25-3376

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United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Velma Taper

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant

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Appeal from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - Cape Girardeau

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Submitted: April 3, 2026

Filed: April 8, 2026

[Unpublished]

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Before SMITH, GRASZ, and STRAS, Circuit Judges.

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PER CURIAM.

Velma Taper appeals the sentence imposed by the district court1 after she pled guilty to fraud offenses. Her counsel has moved for leave to withdraw and has filed

1 The Honorable Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri.

a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), challenging the substantive reasonableness of the sentence.

After careful review, we conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Taper. See United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (standard of review); see also United States v. Miner, 544 F.3d 930, 932 (8th Cir. 2008) (presuming sentence within United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual range is reasonable). Further, having independently reviewed the record under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75 (1988), we find no non-frivolous issues for appeal. Accordingly, we grant counsel leave to withdraw and affirm.

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