Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-05-01732/USCOURTS-ca8-05-01732-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
United States of America
Appellee
Jaime Vergara-Viernes
Appellant

Document Text:

1

The Honorable Robert W. Pratt, United States District Judge for the Southern

District of Iowa.

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 05-1732

___________

United States of America, *

*

Appellee, *

* Appeal from the United States

v. * District Court for the

* Southern District of Iowa.

Jaime Vergara-Viernes, *

* [UNPUBLISHED]

Appellant. *

___________

Submitted: March 7, 2006 

Filed: March 16, 2006

___________

Before MELLOY, FAGG, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

___________

PER CURIAM.

Jaime Vergara-Viernes (Vergara) appeals the 57-month sentence the district

court1

 imposed upon his guilty plea to illegal re-entry after deportation, in violation

of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). Vergara’s counsel has moved to withdraw and filed a brief

under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967). Counsel questions the

reasonableness of the sentence, arguing that Vergara’s cultural assimilation, his

ineligibility for prison programs and early release, and the sentencing disparities

created by the unavailability of an early-disposition program in the Southern District

Appellate Case: 05-1732 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/16/2006 Entry ID: 2021358
-2-

of Iowa, see U.S.S.G. § 5K3.1, required a sentence below the advisory Sentencing

Guidelines range.

We conclude the sentence is not unreasonable. See United States v. Haack, 403

F.3d 997, 1004 (8th Cir.) (standard of review), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 276 (2005).

The district court calculated the Guidelines imprisonment range and took that range

into account, along with other 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors. See United States v.

Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 260-62 (2005) (§ 3553(a) factors will guide appellate courts

in determining whether sentence is unreasonable). Further, any sentence disparity

arising from section 5K3.1 early-disposition programs does not make Vergara’s

sentence--which is otherwise reasonable--unreasonable. See United States v.

Sebastian, No. 05-2002, 2006 WL 265507, at **2-3 (8th Cir. Feb. 6, 2006) (Congress

and President, by directing that Sentencing Commission provide § 5K3.1 earlydisposition programs in certain judicial districts, concluded that advantages stemming

from such programs outweigh their disadvantages, and that any resulting disparity is

not “unwarranted” for purposes of § 3553(a)(6); sentence disparities arising from

§ 5K3.1 program do not make otherwise reasonable sentence unreasonable).

Having reviewed the record under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 80 (1988), we

find no nonfrivolous issues. Accordingly, we grant counsel’s motion to withdraw, and

we affirm.

______________________________

Appellate Case: 05-1732 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/16/2006 Entry ID: 2021358