Case Explained: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. JOHN RYAN ZAJAC

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-06-23 The Fourth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, which sentenced John Ryan Zajac to 135 months in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The court reviewed the appeal under the standard set forth in *Anders v. California*, where appointed counsel conceded there were no meritorious issues but requested a review of the record for possible errors. Regarding the guilty plea, the court applied the “plain error” standard because Zajac did not contemporaneously object to the Rule 11 hearing or seek to withdraw his plea. The court found no error in the magistrate judge’s conduct, concluding that the colloquy satisfied Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(b) requirements and that the plea was entered voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently with sufficient awareness of the relevant circumstances and consequences. Regarding the sentence, the court applied a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard to review both procedural and substantive reasonableness. The court determined that the district court correctly calculated the advisory Sentencing Guidelines range, properly considered the factors under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), afforded Zajac an opportunity to allocute, and sufficiently explained the sentence. Because the sentence was within the Guidelines range, it was presumptively reasonable, and the record contained no evidence rebutting this presumption. Additionally, the court found that the special conditions of supervised release in the written judgment were consistent with the oral pronouncement at sentencing. The practical consequence is that the conviction and sentence stand affirmed. The court dispensed with oral argument and directed counsel to inform Zajac in writing of his right to petition the Supreme Court of the United States for further review, noting that if counsel believes such a petition would be frivolous, they may move to withdraw from representation after serving a copy on Zajac. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.