Court Opinion

ID: 993995
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 00:16:18.793655+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:43:37.194189
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.                                                                      No. 97-4144

MAURICE PERNELL SMITH,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.
W. Earl Britt, District Judge.
(CR-96-45-4-BR)

Submitted: December 9, 1997

Decided: January 22, 1998

Before MURNAGHAN, WILKINS, and WILLIAMS,
Circuit Judges.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

William Arthur Webb, Federal Public Defender, Gordon Widenhouse,
Assistant Federal Public Defender, Raleigh, North Carolina, for
Appellant. Janice McKenzie Cole, United States Attorney, Anne M.
Hayes, Assistant United States Attorney, Raleigh, North Carolina, for
Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Appellant Maurice Pernell Smith appeals the district court judg-
ment sentencing him to seventy-seven months imprisonment upon his
conviction for assault with a dangerous weapon. Appellant contends
that the district court erred in sentencing him as a career offender and
denying his motion for a downward departure. We affirm.

This court reviews the district court's designation of Smith as a
career offender de novo. See United States v. Dickerson, 77 F.3d 774,
775 (4th Cir. 1996). Appellant's claim that the district court erred by
sentencing him as a career offender because one of the prior, state fel-
ony crimes for which he was convicted has been reclassified as a mis-
demeanor is foreclosed by this court's holding in United States v.
Johnson, 114 F.3d 435, 444-45 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 66 U.S.L.W.
3262 (U.S. Oct. 6, 1997). A defendant sustains a conviction on the
date his guilt is established and thus the nature of the conviction at
the time of the conviction controls the career offender analysis. Id.
We decline to review Appellant's claim that the district court errone-
ously denied his motion for a downward departure based upon the
reclassification because the district court understood that it had the
discretionary authority to depart on this basis. See United States v.
Hall, 977 F.2d 861, 866 (4th Cir. 1992). Further, we deny Appellant's
motion to file a supplemental brief.

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal conten-
tions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and
argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

                    2