Terrance Martice Miller appealed his criminal judgment after pleading guilty to escaping from federal custody under 18 U.S.C. § 751(a) and having his supervised release revoked for a prior offense for the third time. The district court sentenced him to 30 months in prison for the escape offense, to run consecutively to a 50-month sentence for the supervised release revocation. Miller's counsel filed a brief under Anders v. California, challenging the substantive reasonableness of the prison sentences, and moved to withdraw from the appeal.
The Eighth Circuit reviewed the sentences under a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. The court concluded that the sentences were not substantively unreasonable, either individually or in combination, because the district court considered the statutory sentencing factors and did not overlook a relevant factor, give significant weight to an improper or irrelevant factor, or commit a clear error of judgment in weighing relevant factors. The court noted that Miller's disagreement with the weight the district court gave to mitigating factors does not justify reversal. Additionally, the court found no abuse of discretion in imposing consecutive sentences. Finally, the court independently reviewed the record under Penson v. Ohio and found no non-frivolous issues for appeal, which supported the decision to grant counsel's motion to withdraw.
The judgment of the district court is affirmed, and the consecutive sentences stand. Counsel is permitted to withdraw from the case. The decision reinforces the standard that appellate courts will not reverse sentencing decisions merely because they might have weighed mitigating factors differently, provided the district court did not commit a clear error of judgment.