Summary
The Sixth Circuit dismissed Brandie Nicole Appleton’s appeal from a 44-month prison sentence imposed after revocation of her probation. The court held that Appleton’s knowing and voluntary plea-agreement waiver of the right to appeal any sentence within or below the applicable Guidelines range encompassed the post-revocation sentence. Because the sentence fell within the original Guidelines range and no exception to the waiver applied, the court did not reach the merits of her procedural or substantive sentencing claims.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Appleton's plea-agreement waiver of the right to appeal any sentence within or below the Guidelines range applied to the 44-month sentence imposed after revocation of probation.
- Whether the appeal should be dismissed without reaching Appleton's claims that the sentence was procedurally and substantively unreasonable.
Holdings
- A knowing and voluntary waiver of the right to appeal any sentence within or below the Guidelines range encompasses a within-Guidelines prison sentence imposed after the defendant's probation is revoked when the revocation sentence concerns the same underlying conviction.
- Because the appeal waiver covered Appleton's within-Guidelines sentence, the court could not review her procedural and substantive sentencing claims and dismissed the appeal.
Key quotations
“Interpreting that provision by utilizing “ordinary contract law principles,” we agree that its broad language fairly encompasses Appleton’s appeal.” (4)
“revocation sentences are part and parcel of the sentence underlying the original conviction” (5)
“An appeal waiver, it follows, similarly applies following the revocation of probation.” (7)
Factual background
Appleton and a co-conspirator burglarized a Tennessee pharmacy and stole controlled substances, firearm components, and ammunition. After police stopped their getaway vehicle, Appleton resisted officers and eventually fled, but was captured; a search of the vehicle uncovered the stolen items. She pleaded guilty and received five years of probation despite an advisory Guidelines range of 41 to 51 months, then violated probation approximately six weeks later by possessing unprescribed Xanax, leading the district court to revoke probation and impose 44 months of imprisonment.
Procedural history
Appleton pleaded guilty to possessing controlled substances with intent to distribute and possessing stolen ammunition. The district court initially sentenced her to five years of probation, but after she violated probation by possessing unprescribed controlled substances, the court revoked probation and imposed 44 months of imprisonment, within the original Guidelines range. Appleton appealed, and the Sixth Circuit dismissed the appeal because the plea agreement waived challenges to any sentence within or below the Guidelines range.