Court Opinion

ID: 991085
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-03 23:31:32.716632+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:37:34.405356
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.
                                                                          No. 96-4490
WAYNE MCDOUGALL, a/k/a Jamal,
a/k/a Winthrop McDougall,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Greensboro.
N. Carlton Tilley, Jr., District Judge.
(CR-95-249)

Submitted: December 12, 1996

Decided: December 24, 1996

Before MURNAGHAN, NIEMEYER, and LUTTIG,
Circuit Judges.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

J. Matthew Martin, MARTIN & MARTIN, P.A., Hillsborough, North
Carolina, for Appellant. Walter C. Holton, Jr., United States Attorney,
Clifton T. Barrett, Assistant United States Attorney, Laura M. Wolfe,
Third Year Law Student, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee.

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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Wayne McDougall pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine
base in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 846 (West Supp. 1996). Citing the
1995 Annual Report of the United States Sentencing Commission,
McDougall claims on appeal, as he did below, that the 100-to-1 statu-
tory ratio for cocaine powder and crack offenses is arbitrary, racially
discriminatory, and denies him his right to due process because of its
disparate impact on African-American defendants. The district court
denied the objection, and sentenced McDougall to 188 months'
imprisonment, a term of five years' supervised release, and a special
assessment of $50.

This Court has considered this claim many times before,* and we
decline to revisit our prior decisions holding that the disparity in sen-
tencing between cocaine base and powder cocaine offenses is consti-
tutionally permissible. While McDougall relies on Congress's
directive to the United States Sentencing Commission to propose
additional amendments to Guidelines, Congress did not adopt the
Sentencing Commission's recommendation to eliminate or reduce the
disparity. See United States v. Hayden, 85 F.3d 153, 157-58 (4th Cir.
1996). Accordingly, we decline McDougall's invitation to reconsider
this issue. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal
contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the Court
and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED
_________________________________________________________________

*United States v. Fisher, 58 F.3d 96, 98-100 (4th Cir.), cert. denied,
___ U.S. ___, 64 U.S.L.W. 3270 (U.S. Oct. 10, 1995) (No. 95-5923);
United States v. D'Anjou, 16 F.3d 604, 612 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, ___
U.S. ___, 62 U.S.L.W. 3861 (U.S. June 27, 1994) (No. 93-9131); United
States v. Bynum, 3 F.3d 769, 774-75 (4th Cir. 1993), cert. denied, 510
U.S. 1132 (1994); United States v. Thomas, 900 F.2d 37, 38-40 (4th Cir.
1990).

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