Court Opinion

ID: 9930431
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-06 21:01:07.315637+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:16:27.385846
License: Public Domain

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                                              UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                                No. 22-4545

        UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                     Plaintiff – Appellee,

              v.

        HERBERT LYNN LOWERY,

                     Defendant – Appellant.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at
        Greensboro. Loretta C. Biggs, District Judge. (1:21-cv-00045-LCB-1)

        Submitted: November 9, 2023                                       Decided: February 5, 2024

        Before RICHARDSON and RUSHING, Circuit Judges, and MOTZ, Senior Circuit Judge.

        Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        ON BRIEF: Peter D. Zellmer, PETER D. ZELLMER, PLLC, Greensboro, North Carolina,
        for Appellant. Sandra J. Hairston, United States Attorney, Tanner L. Kroeger, Assistant
        United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greensboro,
        North Carolina, for Appellee.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
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        PER CURIAM:

               Herbert Lynn Lowery pled guilty to bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C.

        § 2113(a). The district court calculated Lowery’s imprisonment range under the advisory

        U.S. Sentencing Guidelines to be 130 to 162 months and sentenced him to 146 months of

        imprisonment. Lowery argues on appeal that the district court erred when calculating his

        Guidelines sentencing range by declining to reduce his offense level for acceptance of

        responsibility under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

               “We review a district court’s decision concerning an acceptance-of-responsibility

        adjustment for clear error.” United States v. Dugger, 485 F.3d 236, 239 (4th Cir. 2007).

        “Under the clear error standard, we will only reverse if left with the definite and firm

        conviction that a mistake has been committed.” United States v. Doctor, 958 F.3d 226,

        234 (4th Cir. 2020) (cleaned up). We give “great deference to the district court’s decision

        because the sentencing judge is in a unique position to evaluate a defendant’s acceptance

        of responsibility.” Dugger, 485 F.3d at 239 (cleaned up).

               Under the Guidelines, a district court may reduce a defendant’s offense level by up

        to three levels “[i]f the defendant clearly demonstrates acceptance of responsibility for his

        offense.” U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a)–(b). “To earn the reduction, a defendant must prove to the

        court by a preponderance of the evidence that he has clearly recognized and affirmatively

        accepted personal responsibility for his criminal conduct.” United States v. Bolton, 858

        F.3d 905, 914 (4th Cir. 2017) (quoting Dugger, 485 F.3d at 239). When evaluating a

        defendant’s acceptance of responsibility, the sentencing court may consider, among other

        things, the defendant’s “voluntary withdrawal from crime.” Id. at 915 (citing U.S.S.G.

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        § 3E1.1 cmt. n.1). “We have upheld denials of reductions for acceptance of responsibility

        where, as here, the defendant continues criminal activity after . . . [a] guilty plea.” Id.

               Lowery assaulted a detention officer while awaiting sentencing after his guilty plea.

        Because Lowery’s criminal conduct continued after he entered his plea, the district court

        had an adequate basis to refuse to grant a sentencing reduction for acceptance of

        responsibility under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1. See Bolton, 858 F.3d at 915. We have reviewed

        the record, including video footage of the assault, and find no reason to conclude that the

        sentencing judge clearly erred in rejecting Lowery’s contention that the assault was

        involuntary.

               Accordingly, we affirm Lowery’s sentence. We dispense with oral argument

        because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this

        court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                                                          AFFIRMED

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