Background
Aaron Thompson, a Florida prisoner serving a thirty-year sentence, mailed threatening letters to judges and their families. He was charged with mailing interstate threats but pleaded guilty to two counts of mailing threatening communications in violation of Section eighteen United States Code Section eight seven six C. He received a forty-one-month sentence followed by three years of supervised release. The plea agreement included a provision waiving his right to appeal the sentence unless specific exceptions applied.
The court’s reasoning
The court reviewed the validity of the appeal waiver provision de novo. It found that the waiver was enforceable because the defendant knowingly and voluntarily pleaded guilty. The district court specifically questioned the defendant regarding the waiver during the change-of-plea hearing, satisfying the requirement for enforcement. The court noted that the right to appeal is statutory, not constitutional, and that knowing and voluntary waivers must be given full effect. Since none of the exceptions in the waiver applied to Thompson’s situation, the appeal was barred.
We need not address whether the appeal is timely. Even assuming that Thompson’s appeal is timely, it is barred by the appeal waiver in the plea agreement.
What it means going forward
This decision reinforces the enforceability of sentence appeal waivers in plea agreements within the Eleventh Circuit, provided the waiver was entered into knowingly and voluntarily.
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