UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT 

No. 08-4632

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff – Appellee, 

 v. 

JAMES DALE MCROBIE, 

 Defendant – Appellant. 

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern 

District of Virginia, at Richmond. Henry E. Hudson, District 

Judge. (3:07-cr-00474-HEH-1) 

Submitted: December 12, 2008 Decided: January 14, 2009 

Before MOTZ, GREGORY, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges. 

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. 

Michael S. Nachmanoff, Federal Public Defender, Frances H. 

Pratt, Alice V. Sheridan, Assistant Federal Public Defenders, 

Richmond, Virginia, for Appellant. Chuck Rosenberg, United 

States Attorney, David T. Maguire, Assistant United States 

Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee. 

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. 
PER CURIAM: 

 James Dale McRobie pled guilty to possession of a 

firearm by a person committed to a mental institution in 

violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4) (2006). He was sentenced to 

sixteen months of imprisonment and three years supervised 

release. One of his special conditions of supervision was to 

“stay away from any official event, political event, or campaign 

event attended by the President of the United States or any 

candidate for the Presidency of the United States.” (JA 52). 

On appeal, McRobie raises three issues: (1) whether the district 

court erred by imposing a sentence greater than necessary 

because the imprisonment portion of the sentence amounts to an 

involuntary civil commitment; (2) whether the district court 

erred by imposing the special condition of supervised release; 

and (3) whether his conviction was unconstitutional in light of 

Dist. of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008). For the 

reasons that follow, we affirm. 

 First, McRobie provides no authority for his argument 

that his sixteen-month sentence could be considered an 

involuntary civil commitment. More generally, we find no abuse 

of discretion in McRobie’s sentence, which was within his 

properly-calculated advisory Sentencing Guidelines range of ten 

to sixteen months. Gall v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 586, 596 

(2007); United States v. Pauley, 511 F.3d 468, 473 (4th Cir. 

2 
3 

2007). A sentence imposed within the advisory range is 

presumptively reasonable. United States v. Allen, 491 F.3d 178, 

193 (4th Cir. 2007). 

 As McRobie concedes on appeal, this court reviews his 

second issue for plain error, as he failed to object to the 

special condition below. United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 

732 (1993) (providing standard). McRobie has failed to show 

that the district court’s “stay away” order was plainly 

erroneous. Id. 

 McRobie’s final claim of error founders on the very 

case upon which it relies. While the Heller opinion recognized 

a Second Amendment right for citizens to bear arms, it 

specifically cautioned that “nothing in our opinion should be 

taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the 

possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill.” Heller, 

128 S. Ct. at 2816-17. 

 Accordingly, we affirm McRobie’s conviction and 

sentence. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and 

legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials 

before the court and argument would not aid the decisional 

process. 

AFFIRMED