United States v. Alfonzer Blanks

USCA4 Appeal: 24-6754 Doc: 9 Filed: 03/03/2025 Pg: 1 of 2 UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 24-6754 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. ALFONZER SHAVAAR BLANKS, a/k/a Showtime, 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-00117-D-1) Submitted: February 27, 2025 Decided: March 3, 2025 Before KING and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges, and TRAXLER, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Alfonzer Shavaar Blanks, Appellant Pro Se. 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 Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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: 24-6754 Doc: 9 Filed: 03/03/2025 Pg: 2 of 2 PER CURIAM: Alfonzer Shavaar Blanks appeals the district court’s order denying relief on his 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) motion for a sentence reduction pursuant to Amendment 821 to the Sentencing Guidelines. “We review a district court’s decision [whether] to reduce a sentence under [18 U.S.C.] § 3582(c)(2) for abuse of discretion and its ruling as to the scope of its legal authority under § 3582(c)(2) de novo.” United States v. Mann, 709 F.3d 301, 304 (4th Cir. 2013). Our review of the record reveals no error. The court clearly understood its authority to reduce Blanks’s sentence and recognized Blanks’s postsentencing conduct, but the court declined to grant a reduction based on its review of the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order. 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 2