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United States v. Burton, 4th Cir. (2010)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed Trayone Burton's conviction and 360-month sentence for drug conspiracy and firearms charges. The court found that Burton's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel were not cognizable on direct appeal. It also found Burton's sentence to be procedurally and substantively reasonable. Finally, the court rejected Burton's additional arguments that the district court erred in its drug quantity calculation, failing to give a Pinkerton instruction, and denying his motion for a mistrial. The court affirmed the district court's judgment.

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56 views7 pages

United States v. Burton, 4th Cir. (2010)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed Trayone Burton's conviction and 360-month sentence for drug conspiracy and firearms charges. The court found that Burton's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel were not cognizable on direct appeal. It also found Burton's sentence to be procedurally and substantively reasonable. Finally, the court rejected Burton's additional arguments that the district court erred in its drug quantity calculation, failing to give a Pinkerton instruction, and denying his motion for a mistrial. The court affirmed the district court's judgment.

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UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS


FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 09-4123

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,


Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
TRAYONE MAURICE BURTON,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Columbia. Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., District
Judge. (3:07-cr-00773-JFA-1)

Submitted:

June 29, 2010

Before WILKINSON and


Senior Circuit Judge.

KEENAN,

Decided:

Circuit

Judges,

July 9, 2010

and

HAMILTON,

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Eric Hardy Imperial, THE LAW OFFICES OF ERIC H. IMPERIAL,


Washington, D.C., for Appellant.
John David Rowell, Assistant
United States Attorney, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM:
Trayone Maurice Burton appeals his conviction and 360
month

sentence

for

conspiracy

to

possess

with

intent

to

distribute and to distribute five kilograms or more of powder


cocaine and 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, in violation
of 21 U.S.C. 841, 846 (2006) (Count 1); aiding and abetting
in

the

possession

with

intent

to

distribute

marijuana,

in

violation of 21 U.S.C. 841 and 18 U.S.C. 2 (2006) (Count 2);


and being a felon in possession of firearms, in violation of 18
U.S.C. 922, 924 (2006) (Count 4).

Appellate counsel has

filed a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 739


(1967),

questioning

ineffective

and

whether

whether

Burtons

Burtons

first

sentence

was

attorney

was

substantively

reasonable, but determining there are no meritorious issues on


appeal.

Additionally, Burtons counsel indicated that Burton

wished to raise three issues on appeal:


erred

in

calculating

the

drug

that the district court

weight

for

which

he

was

responsible, rather than the allowing it to be calculated by a


jury;

the

jury

should

have

received

an

instruction

under

Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640 (1946); and the judge
should have granted Burtons motion for a mistrial, based on a
witnesss
Government.

reference

to

Burtons

prior

cooperation

with

The Government has elected not to file a brief.

affirm.
2

the
We

Burtons
original

attorney

meaningful
that

attorney
failed

manner.

Burtons

interview

In

former

Burton

on

first
to

contends

represent

particular,
attorney

numerous

Mr.

Burtons

allowed

occasions

that

Burtons

Burton

in

counsel

alleges

the

Government

outside

of

any

to

counsels

presence, and Burton contended during the trial that his former
attorney

instructed

him

to

withhold

information

from

the

Government.
Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are not
cognizable

on

direct

appeal

unless

the

record

conclusively

United States v. James, 337

establishes ineffective assistance.

F.3d 387, 391 (4th Cir. 2003); United States v. Richardson, 195
F.3d

192,

198

development

(4th

of

the

Cir.

1999).

record,

To

generally

allow

claims

for
of

adequate

ineffective

assistance should be brought in a 28 U.S.C.A. 2255 (West 2006


& Supp. 2010) motion.
(4th Cir. 1997).
does

not

United States v. King, 119 F.3d 290, 295

After reviewing the record, we find that it

Therefore,

conclusively
Burtons

establish

claims

of

ineffective

ineffective

assistance.

assistance

are

not

cognizable on direct appeal.


Burtons counsel next contends that Burtons sentence
was
both

unreasonable,
his

acceptance

as

substantial
of

Burton

received

assistance

responsibility.

to

insufficient
the

Government

Regardless
3

credit

of

for

and

his

whether

the

sentence imposed is inside or outside the [g]uidelines range,


the appellate court must review the sentence under an abuse-ofdiscretion standard.
(2007).

Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51

Appellate courts are charged with reviewing sentences

for both procedural and substantive reasonableness.


In
assess

determining

whether

the

procedural

district

court

reasonableness,
properly

defendants advisory guidelines range.


We

must

then

consider

the

determine
18

whether

U.S.C.

the

3553(a)

Id.
we

first

calculated

the

Gall, 552 U.S. at 49-50.


district
(2006)

court

failed

factors

and

to
any

arguments presented by the parties, treated the guidelines as


mandatory,

selected

sentence

based

on

clearly

erroneous

facts, or failed to sufficiently explain the selected sentence.


Id. at 51; United States v. Pauley, 511 F.3d 468, 473 (4th Cir.
2007).

Finally, we review the substantive reasonableness of the

sentence,

taking

into

account

the

totality

of

the

circumstances, including the extent of any variance from the


Pauley, 511 F.3d at 473 (quoting Gall,

[g]uidelines range.
552 U.S. at 51).
We
calculated

afford

sentences

guidelines

range

See Gall, 552 U.S. at 51.

that

fall

within

presumption

of

the

properly

reasonableness.

Such a presumption can be rebutted

only by showing that the sentence is unreasonable when measured


against the 3553(a) factors.

United States v. Montes-Pineda,


4

445 F.3d 375, 379 (4th Cir. 2006) (internal quotation marks and
citation omitted).
Burtons

sentence

After reviewing the record, we find that


is

both

procedurally

and

substantively

reasonable.
Finally,
issues

in

Burtons

Anders

the

brief

counsel
at

raises

Burtons

three

additional

instruction.

First,

Burton avers that the district court erred in calculating the


drug weight attributable to Burton, rather than allowing the
weight to be calculated by the jury.

We find this issue to be

without merit.
Next, Burton contends that the jury should have been
instructed that it needed to make a finding as to the drug
quantity

specifically

applicable

to

him

in

accordance

Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640 (1946).

with

However, the

principles outlined in Pinkerton are only applicable when a


conspirator is charged with a substantive offense arising from
the

actions

of

coconspirator,

charged with conspiracy.


304,

313

(4th

Cir.

2005).

not

when

conspirator

is

United States v. Collins, 415 F.3d


Because

Burton

was

charged

with

conspiracy, Pinkerton has no bearing on Burtons conviction, and


this issue is without merit.
Finally, Burton contends that the district court erred
in denying his motion for a mistrial.

We review the denial of a

motion

discretion.

for

mistrial

for

abuse
5

of

See

United

States v. Dorlouis, 107 F.3d 248, 257 (4th Cir. 1997).

In

order for the trial courts ruling to constitute such an abuse


of discretion, the defendant must show prejudice; no prejudice
exists,

however

determinations

the

by

instructions.
Cir.

if

jury

could

following

make

the

individual

courts

guilt

cautionary

United States v. Dorsey, 45 F.3d 809, 817 (4th

1995).

After

reviewing

the

record,

we

find

that

the

district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Burtons


motion for a mistrial.

See United States v. Vogt, 910 F.2d

1184, 1193 (4th Cir. 1990) (finding that witnesss impermissible


testimony

was

incidental

and

not

repeatedly

referenced

by

witness or prosecution, and therefore did not warrant mistrial).


We have reviewed the record in accordance with Anders
and

found

no

meritorious

issues

on

appeal.

affirm the judgment of the district court.

Accordingly,

we

This court requires

that counsel inform Burton in writing of his right to petition


the Supreme Court of the United States for further review.

If

Burton 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.

Counsels motion must state that a copy thereof was served on


the client.

We dispense with oral argument because the facts

and legal contentions are adequately expressed in the materials

before

the

court,

and

argument

would

not

aid

the

decisional

process.
AFFIRMED

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