Opinion ID: 622353
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rogelio Aguirre's Appeal

Text: Aguirre's appointed counsel filed an Anders brief and moved to withdraw after concluding that his appeal presents no nonfrivolous issues. See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967). Aguirre did not initially respond, but we allowed him to file a late response. Counsel first notes that Aguirre did not seek to withdraw his guilty plea in the district court. In his belated response, Aguirre confirms that he does not want to withdraw his plea; counsel therefore properly limited his inquiry to possible sentencing challenges. See United States v. Knox, 287 F.3d 667, 670-71 (7th Cir.2002) (counsel should not explore possible Rule 11 challenges in an Anders brief in the absence of a request by the defendant to withdraw his guilty plea). Counsel notes that in his plea agreement, Aguirre accepted the PSR's guidelines calculations and reiterated at sentencing that he had no challenge to those calculations; any challenge to the court's calculation of the advisory range would therefore be frivolous. Finally, counsel notes that although a below-guidelines sentence would have been reasonable in this case, Aguirre's 235-month sentenceat the low end of the advisory rangeis presumptively reasonable and there are no nonfrivolous arguments that might rebut that presumption. Aguirre now claims that he did not make any demands of the victim's family and was not a leader or organizer of this kidnapping, but that conflicts with the facts he admitted when he entered his guilty plea. We agree with Aguirre's counsel that there are no nonfrivolous arguments to pursue on appeal. For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment in Vizcarra's case (No. 09-1174). In Aguirre's case (No. 09-2457), we GRANT counsel's motion to withdraw and DISMISS the appeal.