United States v. Mario Stevenson

PER CURIAM. Mario Stevenson directly appeals the below-Guidelines-range sentence the district court 1 imposed after he pleaded guilty to a drug charge. His counsel has moved for leave to withdraw, and has filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967), arguing that the sentence is substantively unreasonable and that the district court should have varied downward even further. Stevenson has not filed a pro se brief. ' We conclude that the district court did not impose a substantively unreasonable sentence. See United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (describing appellate review of sentencing decisions); see also United States v. McCauley, 715 F.3d 1119, 1127 (8th Cir. 2013) (noting that when district court has varied below Guidelines range, it is “nearly inconceivable” that court abused its discretion in not varying downward further). In addition, we have independently reviewed the record under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 109 S.Ct. 346, 102 L.Ed.2d 300 (1988), and have found no nonfnvolous issues for appeal. Accordingly, we grant counsel’s motion for leave to withdraw, and we affirm. Footnotes [1] The Honorable Leonard T. Strand, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.