United States of America v. Florence C. Brooks

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 13-3081
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United States of America
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Florence C. Brooks
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the Western District of Missouri - Springfield
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Submitted: February 13, 2014
Filed: February 27, 2014
[Unpublished]
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Before WOLLMAN, MURPHY, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
Florence Brooks appeals the sentence imposed by the district court after she1
pleaded guilty to a felon-in-possession offense. On appeal, Brooks’s counsel seeks
The Honorable Greg Kays, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the1
Western District of Missouri.

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to withdraw, and has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967),
arguing that the court abused its discretion in varying upward from the Guidelines
calculation, and in denying the government’s substantial-assistance motion.
Upon careful review, we conclude that the court committed neither procedural
nor substantive error at sentencing, because the Guidelines calculation was correct
and the court made an individualized assessment of the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors,
specifically taking into account Brooks’s cooperation. See United States v. Mangum,
625 F.3d 466, 470 (8th Cir. 2010) (upward variance is reasonable where court makes
individualized assessment of § 3553(a) factors); United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d
455, 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (appellate review of sentencing decision). Having
independently reviewed the record in accordance with Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75,
80 (1988), we find no nonfrivolous issues. Therefore, we grant counsel’s motion to
withdraw, subject to counsel informing appellant about procedures for seeking
rehearing or filing a petition for certiorari. The judgment is affirmed.
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