Court Opinion

ID: 990158
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-03 23:17:07.270213+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:26:26.639060
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.                                                                     No. 95-5530

TAMMY L. MORAN,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Virginia, at Roanoke.
Samuel G. Wilson, District Judge.
(CR-95-12-R)

Submitted: July 25, 1996

Decided: August 14, 1996

Before LUTTIG and MOTZ, Circuit Judges, and PHILLIPS,
Senior Circuit Judge.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

Gary Michael Bowman, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellant. Robert P.
Crouch, Jr., United States Attorney, Kenneth Martin Sorenson, Assis-
tant United States Attorney, Brendan Chao, Third-year Law Student,
Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellee.

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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Tammy L. Moran pled guilty to knowingly making a false claim
against the United States Treasury Department, 18 U.S.C.A. § 287
(West Supp. 1996). She appeals her 33-month sentence, alleging that
the district court clearly erred in finding that she did not accept
responsibility for her offense. United States Sentencing Commission,
Guidelines Manual, § 3E1.1 (Nov. 1994). We affirm.

Moran participated in a scheme to file false tax returns with false
W-2 forms. The scheme was devised by two inmates in a Virginia
prison, Jimmy Blankenship and Ernest Garraghty, Moran's brother.
Moran's part was to receive and mail the false returns and false W-2
forms which were prepared in the prison. She also filed a false return
in her own name and received a refund of $3585. Although Moran
entered a guilty plea, she maintained that she believed she was legiti-
mately employed by Blankenship and filed her tax return in good
faith. She persisted in this story at her sentencing hearing even though
Blankenship had given a statement to investigators in which he admit-
ted the scheme and said he told Moran to say she was working for
him if she was questioned, and despite incriminating statements she
made in a series of recorded telephone calls with Tina LaTempa,
another participant who cooperated with investigators.

The district court found that Moran had not accepted responsibility
for her criminal conduct. The court also found that she had obstructed
justice by lying to a grand jury during the investigation. A sentence
reduction for acceptance of responsibility is available to a defendant
who truthfully admits the conduct comprising the offense of convic-
tion. USSG § 3E1.1, comment. (n.1(a)). Moran clearly did not meet
this test. Moreover, a defendant who receives an adjustment for
obstruction of justice ordinarily is not eligible for an acceptance of
responsibility adjustment. USSG § 3E1.1, comment. (n.4).

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We therefore affirm the sentence. 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

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