United States v. Devin Manuel, 20-4442

Devin Antonio Manuel pleaded guilty, pursuant to a written plea agreement, to possession of firearms by a convicted felon (18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2)).
Defense counsel filed an Anders brief challenging the district court’s calculation of the advisory Sentencing Guidelines range; Manuel received notice of the right to file a pro se brief but did not.
The Government moved to dismiss the appeal based on an appellate-waiver in Manuel’s plea agreement; Manuel responded arguing the Guidelines challenge falls outside the waiver and that the Government’s invocation was untimely.
The court reviewed the Rule 11 plea colloquy for plain error, found no error affecting substantial rights, and affirmed the conviction.
The court reviewed the appellate waiver de novo, concluded the waiver was knowing and voluntary, and held the Guidelines challenge fell within the waiver—dismissing the appeal of Manuel’s sentence.
The court required counsel to inform Manuel of his right to petition the Supreme Court and set procedures if counsel seeks to withdraw from further representation; oral argument was dispensed with.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether appellate waiver bars review of the validity of the guilty plea	Waiver does not bar review of plea validity	Government relied on waiver to dismiss appeal but did not prevent plea review	Waiver does not bar review of plea validity; plea affirmed after Rule 11 plain-error review
Whether the appellate waiver is valid and covers a challenge to the Guidelines calculation	Manuel argued the Guidelines challenge lies outside the waiver	Government argued waiver was knowing, voluntary, and covers the Guidelines challenge	Waiver was knowing and voluntary; Guidelines challenge fell within waiver; sentence appeal dismissed
Whether the Government timely invoked the appellate waiver	Manuel argued the Government’s motion to dismiss was untimely	Government invoked the waiver within applicable filing time rules	Government’s invocation was timely; motion to dismiss was properly raised

Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (U.S. 1967) (counsel may file a brief asserting appeal is frivolous and the court must independently review the record)
United States v. McCoy, 895 F.3d 358 (4th Cir. 2018) (appellate waiver does not bar review of plea validity)
United States v. Williams, 811 F.3d 621 (4th Cir. 2016) (plain-error standard for reviewing Rule 11 colloquies)
United States v. Harris, 890 F.3d 480 (4th Cir. 2018) (discussion of plain-error standard)
United States v. Adams, 814 F.3d 178 (4th Cir. 2016) (standards for enforcing appellate waivers)