Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
No. 09-4332
No. 09-4335
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern
District of West Virginia, at Clarksburg. John Preston Bailey,
Chief District Judge.
(1:08-cr-00052-JPB-JSK-1; 1:08-cr-00052JPB-JSK-3)
Submitted:
Decided:
PER CURIAM:
Following a two-day bench trial, the district court
convicted
Larry
Sellers
and
Brandon
Pugh
of
conspiracy
to
and
aiding
and
abetting
the
possession
with
intent
to
Seven).
Sellers
was
also
convicted
of
maintaining
sentences of 292 months on Counts One and Seven and 240 months
on
Count
Eight.
Pugh
received
concurrent
sentences
of
144
the
Sellers
evidence
also
and
the
challenges
reasonableness
the
district
of
their
courts
sentences.
denial
of
his
criminal
charges
center
around
of
multiple
2008,
Sellers
occasions.
Sellers
drug
supplied
Adkins
with
Adkins
acted
as
crack
a
cocaine
runner
on
between
individuals she knew who wanted crack cocaine, and her source,
3
Sellers.
and he would either come to her with the crack or she would hire
a cab or have another crack user drive her to Sellers apartment
complex in Morgantown.
in
Adkins
arrest.
On
May
8,
2008,
Adkins
called
town, and arranged to have his friend, Brandon Pugh, who was
staying
at
his
transaction.
and
Pugh.
apartment
the
weekend,
handle
the
drug
Carolina.
for
was
later
arrested
in
Charlotte,
North
and Adkins was indicted on Count One and several counts related
to her transactions with the confidential informant.
Adkins
and
trial,
the
the
Government
confidential
relied
informant,
on
testimony
from
as
well
law-
as
apartment.
At
crack to Adkins.
trial,
Pugh
testified
and
denied
selling
Both
the
drugs
in
the
apartment
and
for
engaging
in
drug
his
motion
to
depose
co-defendant
Ashley
Adkins.
States,
405
U.S.
150
(1972),
and
He is incorrect.
the
Jencks
Act,
18
As an initial matter,
voluntarily
Second,
Sellers
chose
does
not
not
to
speak
point
to
with
any
Sellers
potential
attorney.
exculpatory
Neither
supporting
their
convictions.
In
assessing
the
2003).
reasonable
Substantial
finder
of
evidence
fact
could
means
accept
evidence
as
that
adequate
and
trial,
On
appeal,
Sellers
that
Adkins
explanation
operation
was
convictions.
uncorroborated
We
and
Pugh
of
and
disagree.
argue,
Sellers
inadequate
While
Adkins
as
they
did
at
drug-trafficking
to
support
both
used
their
and
without
Sellers,
who
was
her
supplier.
As
demonstrated
by
wanted
to
distribute
drugs.
During
the
course
of
the
drivers
and
drug
users
similarly
supported
by
the
parties
corroborated
Other
Adkins
cell
phone
records,
showing
Sellers
and
Pugh
challenge
the
calculation
that, after Booker v. United States, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), this
court reviews a sentence for reasonableness, applying an abuse
of discretion standard.
(2007); see also United States v. Layton, 564 F.3d 330, 335 (4th
Cir.),
cert.
requires
denied,
appellate
130
S.
Ct.
consideration
290
of
(2009).
both
the
This
review
procedural
and
sufficiently
explained
the
7
selected
sentence.
Id.
Regardless
of
whether
the
district
below,
or
within-Guidelines
record
an
individualized
court
sentence,
assessment
it
imposes
must
based
on
an
place
the
above,
on
particular
assess
taking
the
into
including
the
range.
substantive
account
the
extent
of
the
reasonableness
totality
any
of
variance
of
the
the
from
We
sentence,
circumstances,
the
Guidelines
substantive
claims
the
reasonableness
trial
court
of
their
erroneously
sentences.
calculated
the
Sellers
amount
of
The district
court made this clear, and Sellers did not object to the career
offender
designation.
challenges
merit.
the
length
Further,
of
his
to
the
sentence,
extent
his
that
claim
is
Sellers
without
On appeal, Sellers
has
not
rebutted
the
presumption
that
his
within-Guidelines
involvement
in
the
offense,
which
included
fashioning
considered
Pughs
Pughs
sentence,
prior
the
felony
district
convictions
and
supplying
Similarly,
court
then
properly
did,
in
does
not
challenge
the
district
courts
Further,
authority
to
crack and that Pugh handled and photographed all the money, we
find the district court did not err.
For the above reasons, we affirm the convictions and
sentences for Sellers and Pugh.
10