Opinion ID: 4368098
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Paul Grissom and Justin Martin

Text: Paul Grissom pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a), and conspiracy to brandish a firearm to further a crime of violence, id. § 924(o). Justin Martin pleaded guilty to robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery, id. § 1951(a), and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, id. § 924(c). The district court sentenced Grissom to 130 months in prison and Martin to 168 months in prison. Counsel for Grissom and Martin each first consider challenging the adequacy of their clients’ guilty pleas. Initially, counsel should not explore this potential challenge Nos. 17-2940, 17-3065, 17-3519 Page 6 unless they advised their clients of the risks of withdrawing their respective pleas and confirmed that they want to withdraw them. See United States v. Knox, 287 F.3d 667, 671 (7th Cir. 2002). It is not clear that happened here. Still, we need not reject these submissions because, after reviewing the record, we are convinced that the district court substantially complied with Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and thus challenging the validity of the pleas would be frivolous. See United States v. Konczak, 683 F.3d 348, 349 (7th Cir. 2012). The district court informed both Martin and Grissom of the charges against them, the possible penalties, the rights they would have at trial, and the different factors the court would consider at sentencing. It also ensured that their pleas were voluntary and supported by sufficient factual bases. Counsel for Grissom next analyzes whether Grissom could raise non-frivolous challenges to the procedural or substantive reasonableness of his sentence and concludes that he could not. We agree. We would review de novo the procedural reasonableness of the district court’s sentence, including whether it correctly calculated the Guidelines range, considered Grissom’s mitigating arguments, and applied the statutory sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). See United States v. Chagoya-Morales, 859 F.3d 411, 423 (7th Cir. 2017). Here, the district court correctly determined the Guidelines range was 151 to 188 months. (After Grissom received credit for acceptance of responsibility, see U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1, the court correctly calculated that his offense base level was 29 and his criminal history category was VI because with two prior Illinois robbery convictions, he is a career offender, see U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1(b)(3); Shields v. United States, 885 F.3d 1020, 1024 (7th Cir. 2018).) The district court aptly observed that Grissom’s conduct was “very violent” because he held the gun to the head of a store employee and that Grissom “has shown no regard for the law or the well-being of others.” Ultimately, at the government’s request, the court imposed a below-Guidelines sentence because Grissom substantially assisted the government in investigating the robberies. See U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1. We would conclude that the sentencing procedure was reasonable and that, based on the record, Grissom could not rebut the presumption that his below-Guidelines sentence was substantively reasonable. See United States v. White, 868 F.3d 598, 603 (7th Cir. 2017). We also agree with Martin’s counsel that an appeal based on the procedural or substantive reasonableness of his client’s sentence would be meritless. Though counsel discusses the merits of these arguments, we would determine that the challenge would be frivolous because Martin waived his right to bring it. If a defendant knowingly and voluntarily waives his appellate rights in express and unambiguous terms, we will Nos. 17-2940, 17-3065, 17-3519 Page 7 enforce the waiver. United States v. Campbell, 813 F.3d 1016, 1018 (7th Cir. 2016). Martin signed a plea agreement “expressly waiv[ing his] right to appeal the conviction and sentence imposed in this case on any ground” if the court sentenced him to less than 171 months in prison, and it did. The potential challenges that counsel discusses fall within the scope of the appellate waiver and not within any exception to its enforceability. See United States v. Adkins, 743 F.3d 176, 192–93 (7th Cir. 2014). Finally, Martin asserts in his Rule 51(b) response that Hobbs Act robbery is not a crime of violence, so his conviction for brandishing a firearm while committing the robbery cannot stand. Not only would this argument about his conviction be foreclosed by the appellate waiver, but also it would be frivolous because, as mentioned above, Hobbs Act robbery is indeed a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A). See Fox, 878 F.3d at 579. To the extent that Martin argues, as Kemp does, that his conviction for conspiracy to commit robbery is not a violent felony, the point again is irrelevant because robbery was the predicate offense. Accordingly, we GRANT counsels’ motions and DISMISS Kemp’s, Martin’s, and Grissom’s appeals.