In United States v. Boyd, No. 18-11063 (Sept. 16,
2020) (Branch, Marcus, Huck), the Court granted the government’s motion
to dismiss the appeal based on a sentence appeal waiver.
The appeal waiver barred the defendant from appealing his
sentence unless the court imposed a sentence “that exceeds the advisory
guideline range.” Although the court
imposed a guideline sentence, the defendant argued that the waiver did not bar
his argument challenging the calculation of the guideline range. Rejecting the defendant’s argument that the
waiver was ambiguous, the Court held that the “advisory guideline range”
clearly referred to the range calculated by the district court. The Court also found that, based on the
record, the defendant knowingly and voluntarily agreed to the waiver.
