# United States v. Brown

> Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · March 9, 2009 · 315 F. App'x 494

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/1028184

## Case

- **Full name:** UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William Arthur BROWN, Defendant-Appellant
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- **Decided:** March 9, 2009
- **Citations:** 315 F. App'x 494
- **Precedential status:** Unpublished
- **Opinion:** Opinion
- **Judges:** Michael, Motz, Gregory
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

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## Opinion text

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 08-4083

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff – Appellee,

v.

WILLIAM ARTHUR BROWN,

Defendant – Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of North Carolina, at Charlotte. Graham C. Mullen,
Senior District Judge. (3:92-cr-00270-GCM-1; 3:04-cv-00594-GCM)

Submitted: January 22, 2009 Decided: March 9, 2009

Before MICHAEL, MOTZ, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Louis C. Allen, Federal Public Defender, William C. Ingram,
First Assistant Federal Public Defender, Greensboro, North
Carolina, for Appellant. Gretchen C. F. Shappert, United States
Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, Amy E. Ray, Assistant
United States Attorney, Asheville, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

William Arthur Brown was granted relief in part on his

28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp. 2008) motion. The district court

corrected Brown’s drug conspiracy sentence for Count 2 by

lowering his sentence for that count to 240 months of

imprisonment from 360 months. The court granted relief as the

record reflected that counsel provided ineffective assistance by

failing to note that Brown’s prior qualifying drug offense had

been dismissed. Without the prior qualifying offense, Brown’s

statutory maximum sentence dropped from thirty to twenty years.

See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) (2006). In its order granting

Brown § 2255 relief, in part, the court specifically noted that

it was only lowering Brown’s sentence for Count 2 and that all

his other sentences, terms and conditions remained the same. *

Brown appeals from the amended criminal judgment,

raising two issues: (1) whether the district court erred by not

holding a resentencing hearing prior to entering the amended

judgment; and (2) whether his six-year term of supervised

release for Count 2 was erroneous. For the reasons that follow,

we affirm.

*
Brown was also serving four 240-month concurrent sentences
for money laundering.

2
We find no abuse of discretion in the district court’s

decision to correct Brown’s sentence without holding a new

sentencing hearing. United States v. Hadden, 475 F.3d 652, 667

(4th Cir. 2007) (stating review standard). Next, Brown argues

that his six-year term of supervised release for Count 2 is

improper under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(b)(2) (2006), which states that

a Class C felony allows a maximum term of three years of

supervised release. We have previously rejected this argument,

noting that the applicable term of supervised release is

contained in the statute governing his offense of conviction.

See United States v. Pratt, 239 F.3d 640, 647-48 (4th Cir. 2001)

(holding that § 3583(b)(2) does not cap the period of supervised

release that a district court may impose under § 841(b)(1)(C)).

Accordingly, we affirm Brown’s 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

3

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/1028184. Public record. Not legal advice.
