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United States v. Lowe
Citation: 392 F. App'x 477Docket: No. 09-3809
Court: Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; July 2, 2010; Federal Appellate Court
Vincent Lowe pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine, violating 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Under a plea agreement, he waived his right to appeal his conviction and any sentence up to 327 months. In return, the government opted not to file an information under 21 U.S.C. § 851 that would have imposed a mandatory life sentence due to Lowe's prior felony convictions. He was ultimately sentenced to 240 months in prison. Lowe's appointed lawyers sought to withdraw from his appeal under the precedent set by Anders v. California, stating they could not find any nonfrivolous arguments to pursue. The court reviewed the potential issues raised in their brief and Lowe's response. The district court calculated Lowe’s sentencing guidelines, classifying him as a career offender due to three prior felony convictions, resulting in a sentencing range of 262 to 327 months. Lowe requested the court to disregard the career-offender guideline based on perceived disparities between sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenders, a request that the district court denied, citing the controlling case of United States v. Welton. Although Welton was overruled shortly after Lowe's sentencing, it was applicable at the time, and the court exercised its discretion to impose a sentence 22 months below the advisory range. Lowe expressed a desire to maintain his guilty plea while potentially challenging his appeal waiver due to a "mutual mistake" regarding the limits of the court's discretion. However, the court affirmed that a challenge to the appeal waiver would be invalid since Lowe did not wish to rescind his guilty plea, which was integral to the plea agreement. As a result, any challenge to his sentence would be barred by the appeal waiver. The court granted the counsel’s motion to withdraw and dismissed Lowe's appeal, confirming that the plea agreement, including the appeal waiver, remained intact.