Court Opinion

ID: 9388550
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-20 21:00:55.100166+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:21.015109
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 22-4589      Doc: 25         Filed: 04/19/2023    Pg: 1 of 4

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 22-4589

        UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                            Plaintiff - Appellee,

                     v.

        MARK ANTHONY SKEETE, a/k/a Mark Skeete, a/k/a Mark Anthony Brown, Jr.,
        a/k/a Mark Brown, Jr., a/k/a Clean Up, a/k/a Hakeem,

                            Defendant - Appellant.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at
        Newport News. David J. Novak, District Judge. (4:19-cr-00062-DJN-DEM-1)

        Submitted: April 17, 2023                                         Decided: April 19, 2023

        Before NIEMEYER and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges, and TRAXLER, Senior Circuit
        Judge.

        Dismissed in part and affirmed in part by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        ON BRIEF: Mark Bodner, Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellant. Daniel J. Honold, Alexandria,
        Virginia, Lisa Rae McKeel, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Newport
        News, Virginia, for Appellee.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

               Mark Anthony Skeete pled guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to two counts of

        use of a firearm resulting in death, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(j), and was sentenced to

        two consecutive life terms to be followed by five years’ supervised release. Skeete

        appealed and, after conducting a review in accordance with Anders v. California, 386 U.S.

        738 (1967), we granted the Government’s motion to dismiss the appeal as to all issues

        within the scope of the appeal waiver contained in Skeete’s plea agreement and affirmed

        Skeete’s convictions. United States v. Skeete, No. 21-4676, 2022 WL 2355512, *1-2 (4th

        Cir. June 30, 2022) (“Skeete I”). Having determined that the district court did not announce

        at sentencing all of the discretionary terms of Skeete’s supervised release, we denied the

        Government’s motion to dismiss, in part, vacated Skeete’s sentence, and remanded for

        resentencing. Id. at *2. See United States v. Singletary, 984 F.3d 341, 345-47 & n.4 (4th

        Cir. 2021).

               The district court conducted a full resentencing on remand, again sentencing Skeete

        to two consecutive life terms to be followed by five years’ supervised release. During the

        hearing, the district court expressly announced all discretionary supervised release

        conditions that it later included in the amended written criminal judgment. Skeete again

        appealed and, in an Anders brief, counsel concedes there are no meritorious issues for

        appeal, but asserts that Skeete’s life sentences are substantively unreasonable and that the

        district court erroneously denied Skeete’s request for a downward variance. Skeete was

        informed of his right to file a pro se supplemental brief but has not done so. The

        Government has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal, again invoking the appeal waiver in

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        Skeete’s plea agreement. We grant the motion to dismiss in part, dismiss the appeal as to

        all issues within the scope of the appeal waiver, and affirm in part.

               After a thorough review of the record in Skeete I, we found that Skeete knowingly

        and voluntarily waived his right to appeal and, thus, found the appeal waiver to be valid

        and enforceable. 2022 WL 2355512, at *1. This holding became “the law of the case” and

        “continue[s] to govern the same issue[]” here. United States v. Aramony, 166 F.3d 655,

        661 (4th Cir. 1999) (internal quotation marks omitted). As Skeete’s appellate waiver bars

        this court’s review of any sentence within the statutory maximum of life in prison, see 28

        U.S.C. § 924(j), and since Skeete challenges only his sentence on this appeal, we grant in

        part the Government’s motion to dismiss, see United States v. Soloff, 993 F.3d 240, 243

        (4th Cir. 2021) (“Where the Government seeks to enforce an appeal waiver and the

        defendant has not alleged a breach of the plea agreement, we will enforce a valid appeal

        waiver where the issue being appealed is within the scope of the waiver.” (internal

        quotation marks omitted)).

               In accordance with Anders, we have reviewed the record on remand and have found

        no meritorious grounds that are beyond the scope of Skeete’s valid appeal waiver. We

        therefore grant, in part, the Government’s motion to dismiss and dismiss the appeal as to

        all issues within the waiver’s scope and affirm, in part. This court requires that counsel

        inform Skeete, in writing, of the right to petition the Supreme Court of the United States

        for further review. If Skeete requests that a petition be filed, but counsel believes that such

        a petition would be frivolous, then counsel may move in this court for leave to withdraw

        from representation. Counsel’s motion must state that a copy thereof was served on Skeete.

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        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.

                                                                          DISMISSED IN PART,
                                                                          AFFIRMED IN PART

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