United States v. Braswell, 418 F. App'x 195

Braswell pleaded guilty to distribution of five grams or more of cocaine base and aiding and abetting, and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
District court sentenced Braswell to a total of 322 months of imprisonment.
Plea agreement included a waiver of appellate rights with respect to Braswell's sentence.
Anders counsel filed a brief signaling no meritorious issues but questioning plea validity and sentence reasonableness; Government moved to dismiss the sentence appeal based on the waiver.
Court granted the Government's motion to dismiss the sentence appeal, affirmed the conviction, and discussed the appellate waiver and lack of meritorious issues on direct appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the appellate waiver precludes the sentence appeal	Government: waiver is valid and covers sentence	Braswell: waived; no challenge to conviction or sentence beyond waiver; Anders review finds no meritorious issues	Waiver valid and precludes sentence appeal

United States v. Wiggins, 905 F.2d 51 (4th Cir. 1990) (appellate-waiver validity assessed de novo)
United States v. Blick, 408 F.3d 162 (4th Cir. 2005) (enforcement of valid appellate waivers within plea agreements)
United States v. General, 278 F.3d 389 (4th Cir. 2002) (totality-of-the-circumstances test for knowing and intelligent waiver)