United States v. Villodas-Rosario , 901 F.3d 10 ( 2018 )


Menu:
  •           United States Court of Appeals
    For the First Circuit
    No. 15-1981
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    Appellee,
    v.
    ANGEL L. VILLODAS-ROSARIO,
    Defendant, Appellant.
    APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
    FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
    [Hon. José Antonio Fusté, U.S. District Judge]
    Before
    Howard, Chief Judge,
    Selya and Lipez, Circuit Judges.
    Jonathan G. Mermin and Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios,
    LLP, on brief for appellant.
    Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney, Mariana
    E. Bauzá-Almonte, Assistant United States Attorney, and Francisco
    A. Besosa-Martínez, Assistant United States Attorney, on brief for
    appellee.
    August 20, 2018
    LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.             Appellant Angel L. Villodas-
    Rosario appeals his sentence, claiming that it is both procedurally
    and substantively unreasonable. He asserts that he may bring these
    challenges because the waiver-of-appeal provision in his plea
    agreement should not be enforced under the tripartite framework of
    United States v. Teeter, 
    257 F.3d 14
     (1st Cir. 2001).                        The
    government urges us to dismiss the appeal based on the plain-error
    analysis set forth in United States v. Borrero-Acevedo, 
    533 F.3d 11
     (1st Cir. 2008).
    These competing arguments mirror the confusion in our
    precedent     as    to   the   proper        standard   for   evaluating    the
    enforceability of an appellate waiver.             Although we explain this
    confusion below, we ultimately conclude that, even under the more
    defendant-friendly Teeter approach, Villodas-Rosario's waiver of
    appeal must be enforced.       Accordingly, we dismiss his appeal.
    I.
    Villodas-Rosario     pleaded       guilty   pursuant   to   a   plea
    agreement to one count of knowingly possessing a firearm in
    furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 924
    (c)(1)(A)(i).        The plea agreement contained several key
    provisions.        First, the government agreed to dismiss a related
    charge for possession of a machine gun, which carried a mandatory
    minimum of 30 years' imprisonment.               Second, the parties agreed
    that the guideline sentence recommendation on the remaining charge
    - 2 -
    was 60 months, which was the statutory mandatory minimum.                Third,
    the agreement permitted the government to recommend a sentence not
    to exceed 17 years of imprisonment and Villodas-Rosario to advocate
    for a sentence as low as 8 years of imprisonment.                    Finally,
    Villodas-Rosario agreed "to waive and surrender his right to appeal
    the judgment and sentence in this case if the Court accept[ed]
    [the   agreement]      and   sentence[d]   him   according    to   its   terms,
    conditions, and recommendations."
    At   the    change-of-plea     hearing,   the    district     court
    explained to Villodas-Rosario the rights that defendants waive by
    pleading guilty.        In the context of describing the rights of
    defendants who are generally in Villodas-Rosario's position, the
    court stated:
    You should know that sentences imposed in this court for
    this kind of case can be appealed by both sides. You
    can appeal. The government can appeal.    Both sides can
    exercise the right to appeal. Sometimes Plea Agreements
    require that a defendant waive the right to appeal under
    some circumstances. Do you understand that?
    The court did not go beyond this general explanation to describe
    Villodas-Rosario's       specific   appellate    waiver     provision    or   to
    inquire into his understanding of the appellate rights he was
    giving up by accepting the plea agreement.            After delivering the
    explanation, the court accepted Villodas-Rosario's guilty plea.
    Subsequent to the plea hearing but prior to sentencing,
    Villodas-Rosario became concerned about the affidavit of the sole
    - 3 -
    police officer who conducted surveillance in this case.                   For
    example, the officer signed into the precinct to work on only one
    of the three days on which she supposedly conducted surveillance,
    and appellant claims that the log book records for the vehicles
    allegedly used by the officer were unavailable.           Nevertheless, the
    officer's affidavit was used to establish probable cause for the
    search warrant that led to the discovery of weapons and drugs in
    Villodas-Rosario's possession.        Despite these concerns, Villodas-
    Rosario never filed a motion challenging the validity of the
    affidavit.    Instead, defense counsel discussed these concerns with
    the prosecutor out of "courtesy."          The prosecutor, in turn, agreed
    to lower the government's sentencing recommendation to "at least
    ten (10) years."
    At sentencing, the government recommended a sentence of
    "at least 120 months," well below the maximum term set forth in
    the plea agreement and consistent with the informally promised
    recommendation.       In fact, both the government and defense counsel
    confirmed    during     the   sentencing     hearing   that    the   120-month
    recommendation was "with the understanding that if Your Honor
    sentences within the range of eight to 17 [years], then the
    defendant waives his right to appeal" under the plea agreement.
    During    sentencing,     the    district    court      expressly
    considered relevant factors specified by 
    18 U.S.C. § 3553
    (a),
    including:    1)   the    drugs,   paraphernalia,      cash,   and   multiple
    - 4 -
    firearms   discovered    during   Villodas-Rosario's      arrest;    2)   the
    presence of an automatic firearm; 3) Villodas-Rosario's criminal
    history; and 4) Villodas-Rosario's history of substance abuse.
    The   district   court   also   noted   that   the   defense    essentially
    "stipulated on [its] own some sort of voluntary variance, if you
    will, by way of recommendation," since Villodas-Rosario agreed to
    advocate for at least 96 months' imprisonment despite the minimum
    guidelines sentence of 60 months.          After the allocution, the
    district   court    sentenced     Villodas-Rosario      to     144   months'
    imprisonment -- a sentence within the plea agreement's appellate
    waiver range.
    On appeal, Villodas-Rosario asks that his sentence be
    vacated and the case remanded for resentencing.          First, Villodas-
    Rosario contends that his plea agreement's appellate waiver is
    unenforceable because "the trial court did nothing to ensure that
    Villodas-Rosario was freely and intelligently waiving his right to
    appeal his sentence; on the contrary, it assured him that he did
    have the right to appeal his sentence."          Second, if this court
    finds that the waiver is unenforceable, Villodas-Rosario contends
    that his sentence was both procedurally unreasonable -- due to the
    district court's supposed failure to explain the reasons for the
    variance -- and substantively unreasonable.          The government argues
    that we should enforce the appellate waiver set forth in the plea
    - 5 -
    agreement and not address the sentencing arguments that Villodas-
    Rosario raises.
    II.
    Villodas-Rosario    and      the     government,      relying    on
    different strands of our court's precedent, disagree about the
    appropriate   standard   for    determining       whether    to    enforce   an
    appellate waiver. As we explain in Section II.B, we should enforce
    Villodas-Rosario's waiver regardless of which of the two standards
    we apply.   Nonetheless, the parties' competing arguments highlight
    a tension in our cases that warrants careful examination.              We thus
    begin our discussion by reviewing the development of our case law
    on appellate waiver enforcement.
    A. Waiving the Right to Appeal
    In 1999, Rule 11(c)(6) of the Federal Rules of Criminal
    Procedure was amended to require that, "during a change-of-plea
    hearing,    the   presiding    judge     'must    address    the     defendant
    personally in open court and inform the defendant of, and determine
    that the defendant understands . . . the terms of any provision in
    a plea agreement waiving the right to appeal.'"             Teeter, 
    257 F.3d at 22
     (quoting Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(6) (1999)).1                     In the
    1
    In a 2002 amendment, Rule 11 was reorganized and this
    requirement became what is known today as Rule 11(b)(1)(N), but
    the substance of the rule remained largely the same. The current
    text of Rule 11(b)(1)(N) reads, in relevant part: "Before the court
    accepts a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, the defendant may be
    placed under oath, and the court must address the defendant
    - 6 -
    explanatory notes for the 1999 amendments, the advisory committee
    clarified that it was adding the requirement to inquire into
    waivers    of    appellate    rights    only   to   "reflect   the    increasing
    practice    of    including    [appellate      waiver]   provisions     in   plea
    agreements[.]"       Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(6), advisory committee's
    note to 1999 amendments.         The committee explicitly disavowed any
    inference that it thought such appellate waivers were, in fact,
    enforceable, stating that it "t[ook] no position on the underlying
    validity of such waivers."        
    Id.
    Indeed, at the time Rule 11 was amended to address plea
    agreement appellate waivers, our court had not yet spoken on their
    validity.       In 2001, Teeter presented us with the opportunity to do
    so.   At the time Teeter was decided, nine other circuits had
    already addressed the issue, and all nine had upheld the use of
    such waivers.       See 
    257 F.3d at 23
     (compiling cases).            In light of
    this consensus, and "reluctant to brush aside this collective
    wisdom[,]" we followed our sister circuits in holding that, "under
    ordinary circumstances," such waivers "are valid in theory."                 
    Id.
    We were concerned, however, about the risks presented by defendants
    giving up their appellate rights before sentencing. "To ameliorate
    personally in open court.     During this address, the court must
    inform the defendant of, and determine that the defendant
    understands . . . the terms of any plea-agreement provision waiving
    the right to appeal or to collaterally attack the sentence." Fed.
    R. Crim. P. 11(b)(1)(N).
    - 7 -
    these risks, we deem[ed] it appropriate that such waivers meet
    stringent criteria."      
    Id.
       Hence, we held that appellate waivers
    are binding so long as: (1) "the written plea agreement signed by
    the defendant contains a clear statement elucidating the waiver
    and delineating its scope"; (2) the district court ensures that
    "the defendant freely and intelligently agreed to waive her right
    to appeal her forthcoming sentence" by inquiring "specifically at
    the   change-of-the-plea    hearing     into   any   waiver   of   appellate
    rights"; and (3) the denial of the right to appeal would not "work
    a miscarriage of justice."         
    Id. at 24-25
    ; see also United States
    v. Edelen, 
    539 F.3d 83
    , 85 (1st Cir. 2008).
    As to the second prong, Teeter explained that, while an
    inquiry at the change-of-plea hearing would ensure an intelligent
    waiver, such an inquiry was not a necessary condition.                  If the
    record as a whole revealed that the defendant understood the waiver
    at the time he entered the plea, an inadequate inquiry would not
    invalidate the waiver.      Teeter, 
    257 F.3d at 24
     (explaining that
    failure to inquire "may serve to invalidate the waiver, depending
    upon what the record shows as to the defendant's knowledge (that
    is,   whether   the   defendant,    notwithstanding    the    absence    of   a
    particularized inquiry, understood the full significance of the
    waiver)").
    The Teeter inquiry requirement was explicitly inspired
    by, but not dependent on, Rule 11.          We were "[m]indful that Rule
    - 8 -
    11[] . . . specifically recognize[d] the importance of the change-
    of-plea hearing to any waiver of appellate rights," and we noted
    that "the advisory committee made it pellucid that such an inquiry,
    properly    performed,       offer[ed]     considerable             assurance   of     the
    defendant's knowledge and volition."               
    Id.
           While Teeter favorably
    referenced     the     policy    motivations      of       Rule    11(b)(1)(N),   other
    circuits    had    adopted      tests   similar       to    the    one   in   Teeter      --
    including the requirement that judges inquire into a defendant's
    waiver of appellate rights at the change-of-plea hearing -- years
    before the 1999 amendments added such a requirement to the Federal
    Rules of Criminal Procedure.            See, e.g., United States v. Bushert,
    
    997 F.2d 1343
    , 1351 (11th Cir. 1993).
    Importantly, the Teeter prong-two inquiry and the Rule
    11(b)(1)(N) inquiry -- although accomplished by a single colloquy
    between court and defendant -- serve two distinct purposes.                                A
    defendant invoking Teeter seeks relief from an appellate waiver in
    order to appeal his conviction, his sentence, or both.                                 The
    decision whether to enforce an appellate waiver is thus a threshold
    question.         We   cannot    consider       the    underlying        merits      of    a
    defendant's appeal until we decide whether a defendant has validly
    waived   his   appellate        rights.     A    defendant          alleging    Rule      11
    violations seeks to vacate the entire plea.                       The decision whether
    - 9 -
    to   enforce   an   appellate    waiver   necessarily   precedes    the
    consideration of such claims.2
    This distinction between a Teeter inquiry and a Rule 11
    inquiry is highlighted by the remedy prescribed by Teeter when an
    appellate waiver is deemed unenforceable. In such cases, we "sever
    the waiver of appellate rights from the remainder of the plea
    agreement, allowing the other provisions to remain in force."
    Teeter, 
    257 F.3d at 27
    .   After severing, we go on to consider the
    merits arguments the defendant raises relating to his conviction
    or sentence.    In other words, contravening the requirements of
    Teeter does not render invalid a defendant's guilty plea.          That
    Teeter treats the enforcement of an appellate waiver as a separate
    question from the validity of a plea demonstrates that the Rule 11
    and Teeter requirements are distinct, each tailored to a different
    request for relief.
    In sum, after Teeter, a First Circuit district court's
    plea colloquy about an appellate waiver fulfills two independent
    purposes: it simultaneously satisfies Rule 11's requirement for
    the valid acceptance of a plea and Teeter's second prong for the
    enforcement of an appellate waiver.       Accordingly, even if Rule
    2
    In some cases, a defendant may seek to invalidate his plea
    after he is successfully released from an appellate waiver.      A
    defendant may even seek to invalidate his plea on the basis of a
    Rule 11(b)(1)(N) error. The issues of appellate waiver enforcement
    and whether a plea should be invalidated are not mutually
    exclusive, but will arise sequentially.
    - 10 -
    11(b)(1)(N) were repealed, Teeter's inquiry requirement would
    remain unchanged.
    That said, since our decision in Teeter, we have failed
    to continuously stress that Rule 11(b)(1)(N) and the second prong
    of   Teeter,   with   their   shared   directive    to   inquire   into   the
    defendant's understanding of an appellate waiver, created two
    separate, albeit related, obligations.3            Indeed, we effectively
    blended the two areas of law in Borrero-Acevedo, the case on which
    the government relies to argue that Villodas-Rosario's appeal
    should be dismissed.
    In Borrero-Acevedo, we looked to the Supreme Court's
    decisions in United States v. Dominguez Benitez, 
    542 U.S. 74
    (2004), and United States v. Vonn, 
    535 U.S. 55
     (2002), which held
    that a defendant seeking to vacate a conviction based on an
    unpreserved Rule 11 error "must show a reasonable probability that,
    but for the error, he would not have entered the plea."            Dominguez
    Benitez, 
    542 U.S. at 83
    ; see also Vonn, 
    535 U.S. at 72-74
    . Although
    the defendant in Borrero-Acevedo challenged the adequacy of the
    district court's inquiry about his waiver of appeal, it appears
    that he invoked the deficient inquiry only to challenge the
    enforcement of his waiver. The defendant sought to invalidate his
    3
    As previously discussed, the notes to Rule 11 explicitly
    state that "the Committee takes no position on the underlying
    validity of such waivers."
    - 11 -
    guilty plea on other, non-Rule 11(b)(1)(N) grounds.           See Borrero-
    Acevedo, 
    533 F.3d at 15
     (describing the appellant's arguments on
    the merits as a challenge to "whether his plea was voluntary[,]
    given that it was part of a package deal and he might have been
    coerced into pleading guilty by a co-defendant").           Nonetheless, we
    characterized the flawed plea colloquy in Borrero-Acevedo as an
    unpreserved Rule 11(b)(1)(N) error and concluded that -- pursuant
    to Dominguez Benitez and Vonn -- we should apply plain error review
    in determining whether to enforce the appellate waiver.             Hence, we
    held that a defendant who seeks non-enforcement of an appellate
    waiver   must   show   that,   but   for   an   erroneous    plea   colloquy
    pertaining to the waiver, "he would otherwise not have pled
    guilty."   Borrero-Acevedo, 
    533 F.3d at 18
    .
    In so holding, we may have mistakenly incorporated Rule
    11 standards into the second prong of Teeter's analysis for
    appellate waiver enforcement.         The Supreme Court's requirement
    that a defendant "must show a reasonable probability that, but for
    the error, he would not have entered the plea," was articulated in
    the context of "a defendant who seeks reversal of his conviction
    after a guilty plea."      Dominguez Benitez, 
    542 U.S. at 83
    .             If
    imported into the realm of appellate waiver enforcement, the
    Dominguez Benitez plain error standard would be significantly more
    demanding than the standard set forth in Teeter.             Nevertheless,
    where a defendant such as Villodas-Rosario raises an omission in
    - 12 -
    the plea colloquy inquiry as a basis for the non-enforcement of an
    appellate waiver, the conviction itself is not at issue. Arguably,
    then, Teeter's tripartite test, and not the plain-error standard
    articulated in Dominguez Benitez and Vonn, should remain the
    standard used to assess the enforceability of appellate waivers.
    In this case, however, -- as explained below -- we need
    not    reconcile      any    inconsistency        between    Teeter     and     Borrero-
    Acevedo.
    B. Plea Colloquy Error
    Villodas-Rosario avers that his appellate waiver is
    unenforceable because the district court's plea colloquy failed to
    ensure that he entered into it knowingly and voluntarily.                              He
    argues that the district court not only failed to specifically
    address       the    terms     of    his    appellate      waiver,      but     it    also
    affirmatively misled him by stating "you can appeal."
    As     discussed,      Villodas-Rosario       relies      on    Teeter    in
    seeking release from his appellate waiver.                    See 
    257 F.3d at 27
    .
    Notably,      he     does    not    cite   Rule     11(b)(1)(N)    in    his     briefs,
    presumably because he is not seeking to vacate his plea.                               The
    government counters that we should enforce the waiver because
    Villodas-Rosario has not met the standard set by Borrero-Acevedo:
    a showing that, but for the district court's deficient explanation,
    he    would    not    have     entered     the    plea.     See   
    533 F.3d at 18
    .
    Notwithstanding         this    important        debate   concerning     the     correct
    - 13 -
    analysis,    we    do   not   resolve    this    dispute      because   Villodas-
    Rosario's effort to escape the appellate waiver is unavailing even
    under the more defendant-friendly Teeter test.
    The first prong of the tripartite Teeter test -- the
    clarity of the written waiver provision -- is not contested.                     The
    plea agreement clearly stated that Villodas-Rosario relinquished
    the right to appeal if he was sentenced within the agreed-upon
    range.    It is also beyond debate that the district court failed to
    satisfy the second prong's instruction to "inquire specifically at
    the   change-of-the-plea       hearing    into    any   waiver     of   appellate
    rights."    Teeter, 
    257 F.3d at 24
    .        The court's general statements
    about appellate waivers were insufficient to ensure Villodas-
    Rosario's understanding of his specific waiver.                     However, an
    inadequate colloquy does not end our evaluation of the second
    prong. Instead, enforcement of the waiver ultimately depends "upon
    what the record shows as to the defendant['s] knowledge (that is,
    whether     the    defendant,    notwithstanding         the     absence    of     a
    particularized inquiry, understood the full significance of the
    waiver)."    
    Id.
    Villodas-Rosario      suggests       that   the    district    court's
    statement "you can appeal" necessarily prevents a finding that he
    knew otherwise. To the contrary, we previously have observed that,
    "[w]hile broad assurances to a defendant who has waived her
    appellate rights (e.g., 'you have a right to appeal your sentence')
    - 14 -
    are to be avoided[,] . . . they do not effect a per se nullification
    of a plea-agreement waiver of appellate rights."     Teeter, 
    257 F.3d at 25
    .
    Nowhere does Villodas-Rosario assert that he, in fact,
    unknowingly waived his appellate rights.      He argues only that the
    district court's colloquy was erroneous and misleading.       Indeed,
    at Villodas-Rosario's sentencing, his counsel acknowledged that
    his plea agreement contained a provision that waived his right to
    appeal his sentence if he was sentenced "within the range of eight
    to 17" years.      Neither Villodas-Rosario nor his counsel indicated
    any objection to, or concern about, the terms of the waiver after
    they were openly discussed.4 Although the relevant knowledge under
    Teeter is what Villodas-Rosario knew about the appellate waiver at
    the time the plea was accepted, we look to the whole record to
    determine what he understood about the waiver when he entered the
    plea.       See 
    257 F.3d at 24
    ; see also Borrero-Acevedo, 
    533 F.3d at 16
    .
    Our review persuades us that Villodas-Rosario understood
    at the time he entered his plea that he agreed to forego the right
    to appeal if his sentence fell within the provided-for range.     The
    record does not indicate when he would have allegedly learned of
    4
    Although the district court reiterated at the end of
    sentencing that Villodas-Rosario could appeal, Villodas-Rosario
    does not contend that this statement had any effect on whether his
    waiver was knowing and voluntary.
    - 15 -
    the specifics of his appellate waiver after entry of the plea but
    before     sentencing.    Yet     Villodas-Rosario's    counsel    at   the
    sentencing hearing -- without prompting by the court and in his
    client's presence -- reiterated the defendant's agreement to the
    specific appellate waiver provision.        Even at that point, when an
    opportunity remained to object before his sentence was imposed,
    Villodas-Rosario expressed no concern about the waiver.           Given the
    clarity of the written provision, the lack of objection at any
    time to the meaning of the appellate waiver, and defense counsel's
    representations to the court, we think it is a fair conclusion
    that Villodas-Rosario understood the terms of the appellate waiver
    when he entered his plea.       His waiver was knowing and voluntary as
    required by the first and second Teeter prongs.
    C. Miscarriage of Justice
    The remaining question under Teeter -- the third prong
    -- is whether "denying a right to appeal would work a miscarriage
    of justice."      
    257 F.3d at 25
    .     If such a miscarriage of justice
    would occur, we, in our discretion, "may refuse to honor the
    waiver."    Id.; see also Sotirion v. United States, 
    617 F.3d 27
    , 37
    (1st Cir. 2010) (holding that, even under the Borrero-Acevedo
    analysis,     a   defendant   "must   nevertheless     be   afforded    the
    opportunity to demonstrate that enforcement of the waiver would
    - 16 -
    work a miscarriage of justice").5          We permit appellants to make
    miscarriage of justice challenges because "appellate waivers are
    made before any manifestation of sentencing error emerges," and so
    "appellate courts must remain free to grant relief from them."
    Sotirion, 
    617 F.3d at 36
     (quoting Teeter, 
    257 F.3d at 25
    ) (internal
    quotation   marks   omitted).      Although    appellate   waivers   bring
    finality to proceedings, they "are not intended to leave defendants
    'totally exposed to future vagaries (however harsh, unfair, or
    unforeseeable).'"    
    Id.
     (quoting Teeter, 
    257 F.3d at 25
    ).           That
    said, the miscarriage of justice exception is designed "only for
    'egregious cases' and is to be applied 'sparingly and without undue
    generosity.'"    
    Id.
     (quoting Teeter, 
    257 F.3d at 25, 26
    ).             The
    standard is "demanding enough to prevent defendants who have agreed
    to waive their right to appeal from successfully pursuing garden-
    variety claims of error."       Teeter, 
    257 F.3d at 26
    .
    Villodas-Rosario argues that "it would be a miscarriage
    of justice for this Court to deny him the right to appeal his
    5
    Borrero-Acevedo questioned, without deciding, whether the
    "miscarriage   of   justice"   prong   of   Teeter   survived   its
    characterization of the proper test for enforcement of appellate
    waivers.   See Borrero-Acevedo, 
    533 F.3d at 19
     ("[T]he question
    after Vonn and Dominguez Benitez is whether there is any
    discretionary power left in this court to decline to enforce a
    waiver of appeal clause where we conclude that enforcing the waiver
    would be a miscarriage of justice.").       In a subsequent case,
    Sotirion, we held that the miscarriage of justice analysis
    articulated in Teeter survived even under the Borrero-Acevedo
    standard. See Sotirion, 
    617 F.3d at 37
    .
    - 17 -
    sentence after the district court expressly advised him that he
    did    have   that   right."        In    other    words,    Villodas-Rosario's
    miscarriage-of-justice claim attempts to reargue the plea colloquy
    error that we have already addressed.                  But the third prong of
    Teeter, unlike the first two prongs, is not about the knowing and
    voluntary nature of the waiver.             See Sotirion, 
    617 F.3d at 37
    .
    Instead, miscarriage-of-justice analysis provides the court with
    an opportunity to release a defendant from an appellate waiver
    when   errors    unrelated     to   the   validity     of   the   waiver   are   so
    egregious that barring the defendant's ability to appeal would
    work a "miscarriage of justice."              As we have said, there are
    "dangers posed by a prospective waiver of the right to challenge
    errors that have not yet occurred."                
    Id.
     (emphasis added).         We
    gave    examples     of   such      errors        in   Teeter:     the     use   of
    "constitutionally impermissible factors (say, race or ethnicity)"
    at sentencing, the imposition of a "sentence exceeding the maximum
    penalty permitted by law," or the imposition of a sentence that
    "violates a material term of the plea agreement[.]"                  
    257 F.3d at
    25 nn.9 & 10 (internal citations omitted).
    The errors claimed by Villodas-Rosario in the merits
    portion of his briefing -- the sentence was both procedurally and
    substantively unreasonable -- do not begin to suggest a viable
    miscarriage-of-justice claim.             Procedurally, Villodas-Rosario's
    assertion that the district court failed to justify its imposition
    - 18 -
    of a sentencing variance is no more than a "garden-variety" claim
    specifically barred by an appellate waiver.           See Sotirion, 
    617 F.3d at 38
     (quoting Teeter, 
    257 F.3d at 26
    ).      So too with Villodas-
    Rosario's      substantive    challenge    to   the   district     court's
    discretionary weighing of appropriate sentencing factors.                See
    United States v. Madera-Ortiz, 
    637 F.3d 26
    , 31 (1st Cir. 2011).
    Thus,    we   enforce   Villodas-Rosario's   appellate   waiver,   and   we
    decline to reach the merits of his challenge to his sentence.
    Appeal Dismissed.
    - 19 -