Case ID: f-appx_598/html/0597-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "TERRENCE L. O’BRIEN, Circuit Judge.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jimmy Dale STRAHAN, Defendant-Appellant.
    No. 14-7062.
    United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.
    March 17, 2015.
    Linda A. Epperley, Melody Noble Nelson, Thomas M. Wright, Office of the United States Attorney, Muskogee, OK, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
    Robert Allen Ridenour, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Muskogee, OK, for Defendant-Appellant.
    Before MATHESON, O’BRIEN, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges.
   ORDER DISMISSING APPEAL

TERRENCE L. O’BRIEN, Circuit Judge.

Jimmy Dale Strahan fraudulently enticed several individuals to invest in his saltwater disposal company. But, instead of using the money to further the business, he used it for his own personal pleasures, namely to feed his gambling addiction. He pled guilty (without the benefit of a plea agreement) to one count of wire fraud. See 18 U.S.C. § 1348. The presen-tence report (PSR) calculated an advisory guideline range of 27 to 33 months imprisonment. He did not object to the PSR. He moved for a downward variance to 18 months imprisonment based on his good intentions, age (63-years-old at the time of sentencing), health (diabetes, heart murmur, high blood pressure, and bad knees), and gambling addiction. The district judge denied the motion, sentenced him to the bottom of the guideline range, and ordered him to pay $685,347.25 in restitution.

Appointed counsel reviewed the record and found no arguable issue for appeal. Based on that review he filed an Anders , brief and has moved to withdraw. Although invited to do so, Strahan has not filed a response. The government has also declined to respond.

Our task in an Anders case is to “conduct a full examination of the record to determine whether defendant’s claims are wholly frivolous.” United States v. Calderon, 428 F.3d 928, 930 (10th Cir.2005). If they are, we may grant counsel’s motion to withdraw and dismiss the appeal. Id. “Frivolous means lacking a legal basis or legal merit; not serious; not reasonably purposeful.” United States v. Lain, 640 F.3d 1134, 1137 (10th Cir.2011) (quotations omitted). After a careful review of the entire record, we find no reason to question the voluntariness of Strahan’s guilty plea or the procedural or substantive reasonableness of his sentence. Like counsel, we see no non-frivolous grounds for appeal.

We GRANT the motion to withdraw and DISMISS this appeal. 
      
      . Saltwater is a by-product of the oil drilling process.
     
      
      . See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967).