Case ID: f-appx_469/html/0510-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Robert James ABELS, Appellant.
    No. 11-3554.
    United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
    Submitted: April 25, 2012.
    Filed: April 30, 2012.
    Peter E. Deegan, Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Cedar Rapids, IA, for Appellee.
    Robert James Abels, Coralville, IA, pro se.
    Anne M. Laverty, Mullin & Laverty, Cedar Rapids, IA, for Appellant.
    Before WOLLMAN, MELLOY, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
   PER CURIAM.

Robert Abels appeals after he pled guilty to child-pornography-related offenses and the district court imposed a sentence at the top of the calculated Guidelines range. His counsel has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967), arguing that the sentence is procedurally unsound and substantively unreasonable. Abels has filed a pro se supplemental brief also challenging his sentence.

Upon careful review, we conclude that the district court did not commit any significant procedural error in sentencing Abels, and that the sentence imposed is substantively reasonable. See Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007) (in reviewing sentence, appellate court first ensures that district court committed no significant procedural error, and then considers substantive reasonableness of sentence under abuse-of-discretion standard; if sentence is within Guidelines range, appellate court may apply presumption of reasonableness); United States v. Stults, 575 F.3d 834, 849 (8th Cir.2009) (sentence was not unreasonable where record reflected that district court made individualized assessment based on facts presented and specifically addressed defendant’s proffered information in its consideration of sentencing factors); United States v. Haack, 403 F.3d 997, 1004 (8th Cir.2005) (describing ways in which court might abuse its discretion at sentencing).

Having reviewed the record independently under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 109 S.Ct. 346, 102 L.Ed.2d 300 (1988), we find no nonfrivolous issue. Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed. We also construe counsel’s brief as containing a request for permission to withdraw, and we grant that request. 
      
      . The Honorable Linda R. Reade, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.