What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Intervenors who participated as parties at the courts of appeals should be counted as either appellants or respondents when it can be determined whose position they supported. For example, if there were two plaintiffs who lost in district court, appealed, and were joined by four intervenors who also asked the court of appeals to reverse the district court, the number of appellants should be coded as six.
In some cases there is some confusion over who should be listed as the appellant and who as the respondent. This confusion is primarily the result of the presence of multiple docket numbers consolidated into a single appeal that is disposed of by a single opinion. Most frequently, this occurs when there are cross appeals and/or when one litigant sued (or was sued by) multiple litigants that were originally filed in district court as separate actions. The coding rule followed in such cases should be to go strictly by the designation provided in the title of the case. The first person listed in the title as the appellant should be coded as the appellant even if they subsequently appeared in a second docket number as the respondent and regardless of who was characterized as the appellant in the opinion.
To clarify the coding conventions, consider the following hypothetical case in which the US Justice Department sues a labor union to strike down a racially discriminatory seniority system and the corporation (siding with the position of its union) simultaneously sues the government to get an injunction to block enforcement of the relevant civil rights law. From a district court decision that consolidated the two suits and declared the seniority system illegal but refused to impose financial penalties on the union, the corporation appeals and the government and union file cross appeals from the decision in the suit brought by the government. Assume the case was listed in the Federal Reporter as follows:
United States of America,
Plaintiff, Appellant
v
International Brotherhood of Widget Workers,AFL-CIO
Defendant, Appellee.
International Brotherhood of Widget Workers,AFL-CIO
Defendants, Cross-appellants
v
United States of America.
Widgets, Inc. & Susan Kuersten Sheehan, President & Chairman
of the Board
Plaintiff, Appellants,
v
United States of America,
Defendant, Appellee.
This case should be coded as follows:Appellant = United States, Respondents = International Brotherhood of Widget Workers Widgets, Inc., Total number of appellants = 1, Number of appellants that fall into the category "the federal government, its agencies, and officials" = 1, Total number of respondents = 3, Number of respondents that fall into the category "private business and its executives" = 2, Number of respondents that fall into the category "groups and associations" = 1.
Note that if an individual is listed by name, but their appearance in the case is as a government official, then they should be counted as a government rather than as a private person. For example, in the case "Billy Jones & Alfredo Ruiz v Joe Smith" where Smith is a state prisoner who brought a civil rights suit against two of the wardens in the prison (Jones & Ruiz), the following values should be coded: number of appellants that fall into the category "natural persons" =0 and number that fall into the category "state governments, their agencies, and officials" =2. A similar logic should be applied to businesses and associations. Officers of a company or association whose role in the case is as a representative of their company or association should be coded as being a business or association rather than as a natural person. However, employees of a business or a government who are suing their employer should be coded as natural persons. Likewise, employees who are charged with criminal conduct for action that was contrary to the company policies should be considered natural persons.
If the title of a case listed a corporation by name and then listed the names of two individuals that the opinion indicated were top officers of the same corporation as the appellants, then the number of appellants should be coded as three and all three were coded as a business (with the identical detailed code). Similar logic should be applied when government officials or officers of an association were listed by name.
Your specific task is to determine the total number of appellants in the case that fall into the category "natural persons". If the total number cannot be determined (e.g., if the appellant is listed as "Smith, et. al." and the opinion does not specify who is included in the "et.al."), then answer 99.

Opinion:
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Michael CROWE, Appellant.
No. 74-2119.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Submitted Feb. 14, 1975.
Decided June 3, 1975.
Sanford Wachs, Baltimore, Md. (Court-appointed), for appellant.
George Beall, U. S. Atty., and Jeffrey S. White, Asst. U. S. Atty., for appellee.
Before RUSSELL, FIELD and WIDENER, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Appellant, Michael E. Crowe, was indicted for breaking and entering of Carrier Facilities and for aiding and abetting, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2117 and 2. He initially entered a plea of not guilty, but changed his plea to guilty at his re-arraignment on February 22, 1974. The Court found him suitable for sentencing pursuant to the Federal Youth Corrections Act, and committed him to the custody of the Attorney General pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 5010(b), until discharged as provided in 18 U.S.C. § 5017(c). Appellant subsequently filed a timely notice of appeal, and this appeal follows.
Court-appointed counsel for appellant has submitted a motion for withdrawal of appearance, being of the opinión that the appeal is wholly frivolous and without merit. In accordance with Anders v. California (1967), 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493, he has submitted a brief setting forth all issues which arguably support the appeal. Copies of the brief were also furnished to appellant, who has failed to raise any additional issues on appeal, and to the United States Attorney, who has filed a motion for summary affirmance.
The questions presented for review on this appeal are (1) whether appellant’s guilty plea was knowingly and voluntarily entered, and (2) whether the sentence imposed was proper under the circumstances of the case. We agree with counsel that this appeal is wholly frivolous and without merit.
Before accepting appellant’s guilty plea, the District Judge conducted a full-scale inquiry pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Judge Blair’s inquiry was a model of thoroughness. After ascertaining that appellant was fully in possession of his faculties and capable of understanding the proceedings and that he was completely satisfied with his representation by counsel, the Court fully informed him as to the nature of the charges against him, his constitutional rights and the consequences of a guilty plea, taking great care at every juncture to ensure that appellant understood what he was being told. The Court then inquired as to the terms of the plea bargain, and ascertained that no threats or other promises had been made to appellant and that he realized the Court was not bound by any plea agreements. The Court then requested a proffer of evidence by the government, and questioned appellant as to his participation in the offense charged. In the course of this questioning, the Court ascertained that all elements of the offense charged were satisfied, that appellant’s constitutional rights had not been violated in the course of his arrest and interrogation, and that he was pleading guilty because he was in fact guilty. Before accepting the plea, the Court again ascertained that appellant had understood every- . thing that took place in the course of the rearraignment, and that he still wished to plead guilty.
There can be no question but that appellant’s guilty plea was knowingly and voluntarily entered, with a full understanding of the nature of the charge and the consequences of the plea. It is quite clear that the plea was accepted only after the Court had fully satisfied itself that it was voluntary and based in fact. In so doing, it provided this Court with a record on which we can say with assurance that appellant’s plea was voluntary.
As for the validity of the sentence imposed, sentencing is within the sole province and discretion of the trial judge. This Court has no power, absent exceptional circumstances, to review a sentence which is within the limits allowed by statute. United States v. Pruitt (4th Cir. 1965), 341 F.2d 700.
The criminal statute under which appellant was charged, 18 U.S.C. § 2117, provides for punishment by a fine of not more than $5,000 or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both. The Federal Youth Corrections Act, 18 U.S.C. § 5017(c), provides for commitment for an indefinite period, with conditional release not more than four years after conviction and unconditional release not-more than six years after conviction. Before imposing sentence, the Court carefully considered appellant’s pre-sentence and probation reports, and gave both appellant and his attorney an opportunity to be heard. Although appellant did not speak on his own behalf, his attorney delved into his family background, his educational abilities, and his emotional condition, and recommended that treatment and training would be of benefit to appellant. The Court then imposed sentence under the Youth Corrections Act.
This sentence was within the limits allowed- by statute, and was well within the sound discretion of the trial judge. Nor do we find any exceptional circumstances warranting a review of the sentence. Appellant cannot object to the government’s disclosure that he had telephoned his co-defendant’s attorney and offered not to testify against the co-defendant in return for $700 cash. That disclosure was pursuant to a plea bargain in which it was agreed that the government would make no recommendation as to sentence, but would inform the Court of the extent of appellant’s cooperation in the prosecution of his co-defendant, and thus was properly before the Court.
On March 3, 1975, on our own motion, we entered an order, that the Court desired the appellant to state in person and file with the Court, on or before March 21, 1975, all of the grounds for appeal from his conviction which he wished the Court to consider. This order was transmitted to the appellant. The appellant has not responded.
We find no merit in either of appellant’s contentions. Accordingly, the motion for withdrawal of appearance is granted, the motion for summary affirmance is granted, and the judgment of the District Court is
Affirmed.

Question: What is the total number of appellants in the case that fall into the category "natural persons"? Answer with a number.

Choices:

Answer: 1