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    Unpublished United States Court of Appeals For The Fourth Circuit

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    The defendant pleaded guilty to constructing an unauthorized road and cutting down trees in a national park. At sentencing, the magistrate judge ordered the defendant to pay $67,538 in restitution and fines. The defendant appealed, arguing the restitution order lacked factual findings and considered his family's assets. The appeals court found no abuse of discretion, as the magistrate relied on testimony about losses and the defendant's finances. While affirming, the court remanded to correct a clerical error in the restitution amount.

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    Unpublished United States Court of Appeals For The Fourth Circuit

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    The defendant pleaded guilty to constructing an unauthorized road and cutting down trees in a national park. At sentencing, the magistrate judge ordered the defendant to pay $67,538 in restitution and fines. The defendant appealed, arguing the restitution order lacked factual findings and considered his family's assets. The appeals court found no abuse of discretion, as the magistrate relied on testimony about losses and the defendant's finances. While affirming, the court remanded to correct a clerical error in the restitution amount.

    Original Description:

    Filed: 1996-08-12 Precedential Status: Non-Precedential Docket: 96-4187

    Original Title

    United States v. Morgan, 4th Cir. (1996)

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    The defendant pleaded guilty to constructing an unauthorized road and cutting down trees in a national park. At sentencing, the magistrate judge ordered the defendant to pay $67,538 in restitution and fines. The defendant appealed, arguing the restitution order lacked factual findings and considered his family's assets. The appeals court found no abuse of discretion, as the magistrate relied on testimony about losses and the defendant's finances. While affirming, the court remanded to correct a clerical error in the restitution amount.

    Copyright:

    Public Domain
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    18 views3 pages

    Unpublished United States Court of Appeals For The Fourth Circuit

    Uploaded by

    Scribd Government Docs
    The defendant pleaded guilty to constructing an unauthorized road and cutting down trees in a national park. At sentencing, the magistrate judge ordered the defendant to pay $67,538 in restitution and fines. The defendant appealed, arguing the restitution order lacked factual findings and considered his family's assets. The appeals court found no abuse of discretion, as the magistrate relied on testimony about losses and the defendant's finances. While affirming, the court remanded to correct a clerical error in the restitution amount.

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    of 3

    UNPUBLISHED

    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS


    FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    Plaintiff-Appellee,
    v.

    No. 96-4187

    GERALD V. MORGAN,
    Defendant-Appellant.
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Western District of North Carolina, at Asheville.
    Lacy H. Thornburg, District Judge.
    (CR-P6221350, CR-P6221351)
    Submitted: June 11, 1996
    Decided: August 12, 1996
    Before WIDENER and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges,
    and BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.
    _________________________________________________________________
    Affirmed and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.
    _________________________________________________________________
    COUNSEL
    Robert B. Long, Jr., LONG, PARKER & WARREN, P.A., Asheville,
    North Carolina, for Appellant. Mark T. Calloway, United States
    Attorney, Thomas R. Ascik, Assistant United States Attorney, Asheville, North Carolina, for Appellee.
    _________________________________________________________________

    Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See


    Local Rule 36(c).
    _________________________________________________________________
    OPINION
    PER CURIAM:
    Gerald V. Morgan appeals from the district court's order affirming
    the judgment of the magistrate judge. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. 636
    (West 1993), Morgan waived his right to trial before the district court
    and consented to trial by a magistrate judge. Morgan pleaded guilty
    to construction of a road across National Park property, in violation
    of 36 C.F.R. 5.7 (1995), and the destruction of natural resources by
    cutting down twenty trees, in violation of 36 C.F.R. 2.1(a)(1)(ii)
    (1995). At the sentencing hearing the magistrate judge sentenced
    Morgan to serve two years probation, to pay a fine of $2,500 for each
    offense, pay a $10 assessment fee for each offense, and ordered him
    to pay restitution of $63,400 as replacement value of the cut trees,
    $3,100* for site repair and $1,038 for personnel costs. Morgan argues
    that the magistrate judge failed to make clear, specific, and explicit
    factual findings in support of the restitution order and erroneously
    included assets belonging to his family members in determining his
    ability to pay. In determining restitution, the magistrate judge relied
    on the testimony of the government's witnesses to ascertain the loss
    suffered by the government and Morgan's own testimony as to his
    financial condition. Upon reviewing the record for abuse of discretion
    we find that there was no abuse of discretion. See United States v.
    Granado, 72 F.3d 1287, 1294 (7th Cir. 1995) (considering assets
    titled in other than defendant's name in determining ability to pay
    fine). Accordingly, we affirm and remand for correction of the clerical mistake in the judgment. We dispense with oral argument because
    _________________________________________________________________
    *The judgment signed by the magistrate judge shows that Morgan was
    ordered to pay $3,400 for site repair, but the record shows that the magistrate judge ordered Morgan to pay $3,100 for this purpose. The district
    court, in its memorandum and order, noted this discrepancy and affirmed
    the $3,100 figure. Although we affirm, we remand for correction of the
    clerical mistake which awards judgment in the incorrect amount of
    $3,400 instead of the correct amount of $3,100. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 36.
    2

    the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
    AFFIRMED AND REMANDED
    3

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