Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-04-04182/USCOURTS-ca8-04-04182-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
United States of America
Appellee
Terry D. Williams
Appellant

Document Text:

1

 The Honorable Howard F. Sachs, United States District Judge for the Western

District of Missouri.

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 04-4182

___________

United States of America, *

*

Appellee, *

*

v. * Appeal from the United States

* District Court for the

Terry D. Williams, * Western District of Missouri.

*

Appellant. * [UNPUBLISHED]

___________

Submitted: September 7, 2005

 Filed: September 14, 2005 

___________

Before ARNOLD, FAGG, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.

___________

PER CURIAM.

Terry Williams pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms. The

presentence report recommended an increase in base offense level for possessing the

firearms in connection with another felony; Mr. Williams objected to this

enhancement under Blakely v. Washington, 124 S. Ct. 2531 (2004). At sentencing,

the district court1

 stated that it could use the Guidelines for advisory purposes, and

found by a preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Williams had possessed the

firearms in connection with drug sales. Applying the enhancement and arriving at a

Appellate Case: 04-4182 Page: 1 Date Filed: 09/14/2005 Entry ID: 1951587
-2-

Guidelines imprisonment range of 57-71 months, the court imposed a sentence of

57 months in prison and 3 years' supervised release. Mr. Williams appeals his

sentence, arguing that the enhancement was erroneous under Blakely and United

States v. Booker, 125 S. Ct. 738 (2005). 

We conclude that the district court did not err in applying the enhancement

under an advisory Guidelines scheme, and that the sentence was not unreasonable.

See Booker, 125 S. Ct. at 756-57, 764-67 (Guidelines are only advisory; courts

should review sentences for unreasonableness); United States v. Pirani, 406 F.3d 543,

551 (8th Cir.2005) (en banc) (holding Booker error is avoided when district court

calculates proper Guidelines sentencing range, treats Guidelines as advisory, and

imposes reasonable sentence), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. July 27, 2005) (No. 05-

5547). Accordingly, we affirm.

______________________________

Appellate Case: 04-4182 Page: 2 Date Filed: 09/14/2005 Entry ID: 1951587