Court Opinion

ID: 9364603
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-19 19:00:20.082415+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:39.376921
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-10300         Document: 00516615980             Page: 1      Date Filed: 01/19/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                      ____________
                                                                               United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit
                                       No. 22-10300
                                     Summary Calendar                                 FILED
                                     ____________                               January 19, 2023
                                                                                 Lyle W. Cayce
   United States of America,                                                          Clerk

                                                                      Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                             versus

   Demonte Tretion Kelly,

                                               Defendant—Appellant.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                          for the Northern District of Texas
                               USDC No. 3:20-CR-300-1
                      ______________________________

   Before King, Higginson, and Willett, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Demonte Tretion Kelly pleaded guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement,
   to one count of stealing a firearm from the business inventory of a federally
   licensed dealer.       The district court sentenced him to 100 months of
   imprisonment and three years of supervised release. On appeal, Kelly urges
   us to adopt a miscarriage-of-justice exception to the appeal waiver in his plea
   agreement, and he argues that the district court’s denial of his request for a
          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-10300      Document: 00516615980           Page: 2     Date Filed: 01/19/2023

                                     No. 22-10300

   downward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5H1.3 was an injustice because
   the court erroneously believed that it lacked authority to grant the departure.
   Kelly alternatively argues that we have jurisdiction to review the district
   court’s denial of his motion for a downward departure, although he
   acknowledges that the issue is foreclosed.
          As an initial matter, Kelly has moved unopposed to permit the Federal
   Public Defender (FPD) to withdraw as his counsel and to appoint Jessica Graf
   as substitute counsel pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act (CJA). Appointed
   counsel may be relieved “upon a showing that there is a conflict of interest
   or other most pressing circumstances or that the interests of justice otherwise
   require relief of counsel.”       Fifth Circuit Plan Under the
   Criminal Justice Act § 5(B); see 18 U.S.C. § 3006A(c). The required
   showing has been made. Accordingly, the motion to withdraw and to
   substitute Graf as counsel pursuant to the CJA is GRANTED. The FPD is
   excused from further responsibilities in this case.
          Whether an appeal waiver bars an appeal is a question we review de
   novo. United States v. Keele, 755 F.3d 752, 754 (5th Cir. 2014). The question
   turns on “a two-step inquiry: (1) whether the waiver was knowing and
   voluntary and (2) whether the waiver applies to the circumstances at hand,
   based on the plain language of the agreement.” United States v. Bond, 414
   F.3d 542, 544 (5th Cir. 2005). Kelly does not argue that his appeal waiver
   was entered into unknowingly or involuntarily, or that the waiver does not
   apply to his challenge. Although some other circuits have recognized the
   possibility of a miscarriage-of-justice exception to appeal waivers, “we have
   declined explicitly either to adopt or to reject it.” United States v. Barnes, 953
   F.3d 383, 389 (5th Cir. 2020). Nevertheless, Kelly’s standard challenge to
   the district court’s discretionary denial of a downward departure and its
   alleged error in construing the Sentencing Guidelines does not present an
   assertion of a miscarriage of justice sufficient to support an exception to an

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Case: 22-10300      Document: 00516615980          Page: 3   Date Filed: 01/19/2023

                                    No. 22-10300

   appeal waiver, even if we were to adopt such an exception. Accordingly,
   Kelly’s enforceable appeal waiver bars this appeal. See United States v. Story,
   439 F.3d 226, 230-31 & n.5 (5th Cir. 2006); Bond, 414 F.3d at 544.
          AFFIRMED.

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