United States v. Vandarian Canty ( 2022 )

USCA4 Appeal: 22-4020 Doc: 19 Filed: 08/25/2022 Pg: 1 of 4
UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 22-4020
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
VANDARIAN CANTY,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at
Wilmington. James C. Dever III, District Judge. (7:20-cr-00160-D-1)
Submitted: August 23, 2022 Decided: August 25, 2022
Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, HEYTENS, Circuit Judge, and KEENAN, Senior Circuit
Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
ON BRIEF: Richard Croutharmel, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant. David A.
Bragdon, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES
ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
USCA4 Appeal: 22-4020 Doc: 19 Filed: 08/25/2022 Pg: 2 of 4
PER CURIAM:
Vandarian Canty pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation
of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924, and possessing with intent to distribute a quantity of
cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(C). The district court sentenced
Canty to 87 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, counsel has filed a brief pursuant to Anders
v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), conceding that there are no meritorious issues for
appeal but questioning whether the district court erred in counting a June 2019 traffic stop
as relevant conduct. * See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 1B1.3(a)(2) (2018).
Although notified of his right to do so, Canty has not filed a pro se supplemental brief. We
affirm the district court’s judgment.
Because the district “court’s application of U.S.S.G. § 1B.13 depended on an
evaluation and weighing of the factual details, . . . we review the court’s decision for clear
error.” United States v. McVey, 752 F.3d 606, 610 (4th Cir. 2014). Here, relevant conduct
includes “all acts and omissions . . . that were part of the same course of conduct or common
scheme or plan as the offense of conviction.” USSG § 1B1.3(a)(2). “[O]ffenses may
qualify as the same course of conduct if they are sufficiently connected or related to each
other as to warrant the conclusion that they are part of a single episode, spree, or ongoing
series of offenses.” United States v. McDonald, 28 F.4th 553, 563-64 (4th Cir. 2022)
(internal quotation marks omitted). In other words, “the same-course-of-conduct standard
*
Counsel correctly recognizes that this issue affects both the total offense level and
Canty’s criminal history score.
2
USCA4 Appeal: 22-4020 Doc: 19 Filed: 08/25/2022 Pg: 3 of 4
requires only that the defendant be engaged in an identifiable pattern of certain criminal
activity.” Id. at 564 (cleaned up). “Relevant factors include the degree of similarity of the
offenses, the regularity (repetitions) of the offenses, and the time interval between the
offenses.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). But “when one of the above factors is
absent, a stronger presence of at least one of the other factors is required.” Id. (cleaned
up).
We conclude that the district court did not clearly err. Canty’s charges arose from
firearms and crack cocaine recovered after three encounters with law enforcement between
March and November 2020. The district court included as relevant conduct a firearm that
was recovered during a traffic stop that occurred in June 2019. All four encounters were
substantially similar—Canty possessed a firearm when he was prohibited from doing so.
Although there was a nine-month interval between the June 2019 and March 2020
incidents, we have found an eight-month gap was not so large as to preclude a finding of
relevant conduct for a felon-in-possession offense. Id. at 565-66 & n.8.
In accordance with Anders, we have reviewed the entire record in this case and have
found no meritorious issues for review. We therefore affirm the district court’s judgment.
This court requires that counsel inform Canty, in writing, of the right to petition the
Supreme Court of the United States for further review. If Canty requests that a petition be
filed, but counsel believes that such a petition would be frivolous, then counsel may move
in this court for leave to withdraw from representation. Counsel’s motion must state that
a copy thereof was served on Canty.
3
USCA4 Appeal: 22-4020 Doc: 19 Filed: 08/25/2022 Pg: 4 of 4
We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED
4