Case Name: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Avid PONCE, Defendant-Appellant
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2012-01-30
Citations: 456 F. App'x 808
Docket Number: No. 11-13032
Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Avid PONCE, Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: Before WILSON, PRYOR, and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 456
Pages: 808–809

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Avid PONCE, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 11-13032
Non-Argument Calendar.
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
Jan. 30, 2012.
Anne R. Schultz, Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney, Kathleen M. Salyer, Cynthia R. Wood, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Miami, FL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Beatriz Galbe Bronis, R. D’Arsey Houli-han, Michael Caruso, Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender’s Office, Miami, FL, Ricardo Javier Bascuas, University of Miami School of Law, Coral Gables, FL, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before WILSON, PRYOR, and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM:
Avid Ponce pleaded guilty to violating a condition of his supervised release and was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment. In this appeal he argues that his due process rights were violated because when fashioning his sentence the court considered a portion of his criminal record that included a charge that was nolle prossed, and a charge that resulted in no action.
A sentencing court may consider a defendant's criminal record even when it contains charges that did not result in a conviction. Williams v. New York, 337 U.S. 241, 69 S.Ct. 1079, 93 L.Ed. 1337 (1949) (holding due process rights were not denied when a sentencing court based its decision to impose a death penalty on information about burglaries for which the defendant had not been convicted). This principle was codified in 18 U.S.C. § 3661: "No limitation shall be placed on the information concerning the background, character, and conduct of a person convicted of an offense which a court of the United States may receive and consider for the purpose of imposing an appropriate sentence." Additionally, the Sentencing Commission expressly incorporated § 3661 into the Sentencing Guidelines. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 1B1.4 (citing 18 U.S.C. § 3661). Appellant's argument has no merit.
AFFIRMED.