United States v. Blaine Joyner Coglianese

34 F.4th 1002
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMay 17, 2022
Docket20-12074
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 34 F.4th 1002 (United States v. Blaine Joyner Coglianese) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Blaine Joyner Coglianese, 34 F.4th 1002 (11th Cir. 2022).

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 20-12074 Date Filed: 05/17/2022 Page: 1 of 20

[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 20-12074 ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus BLAINE JOYNER COGLIANESE,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 8:19-cr-00263-VMC-TGW-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 20-12074 Date Filed: 05/17/2022 Page: 2 of 20

20-12074 Opinion of the Court 2

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, JORDAN, Circuit Judge, and BROWN,∗ District Judge. 1

JORDAN, Circuit Judge: Blaine Coglianese appeals his sentence of 168 months’ imprisonment followed by 30 years of supervised release, imposed pursuant to his guilty plea for numerous child sex crimes. He challenges the procedural and substantive reasonableness of his bottom-of-the-guidelines sentence, arguing that the district court did not properly consider the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors. He also contests the imposition of a special condition of supervised release prohibiting him—absent probation office approval—from using or possessing a computer or a device capable of connecting to the internet and from possessing an “electronic data storage medium.” I Mr. Coglianese was 22 years old when he met 14-year-old J.G. on a dating site. They exchanged photos for weeks before going to his residence. The first time they engaged in sexual activity, Mr. Coglianese believed J.G. was 18. By the second time they saw each other, Mr. Coglianese knew her true age. Undeterred, he continued eliciting nude photos of J.G. and sending her photos of himself via Facebook messenger. Around the same time, Mr. Coglianese began chatting with various Tumblr users

∗ Honorable Michael L. Brown, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia, sitting by designation. USCA11 Case: 20-12074 Date Filed: 05/17/2022 Page: 3 of 20

20-12074 Opinion of the Court 3

about his relationship with a 14-year-old. He sent some of those users photos of J.G. in exchange for other child pornography. The government charged Mr. Coglianese with coercion and enticement of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b); receipt of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(2) and (b)(1); and transportation of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(1) and (b)(1). Mr. Coglianese ultimately pled guilty to all charges without a plea agreement. Given the offenses to which Mr. Coglianese pled guilty, and his criminal history category of I, the advisory guidelines range was 168 to 210 months of imprisonment followed by five years to life of supervised release. The presentence investigation report did not reveal any factors that would warrant a departure or variance from the applicable sentencing range. At the sentencing hearing, the government recommended a sentence of 210 months at the high end of the guidelines range. Mr. Coglianese requested a term of 144 months. He argued that various factors warranted a downward variance from the sentencing guidelines, including the low number of pornographic images involved, the lack of predatory behavior, his untreated mental illness (major depressive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), his cooperation with law enforcement, and his low likelihood of recidivism. During the hearing, the district court discussed two principal concerns: (1) the government’s request for a high-end sentence; and (2) the fact that Mr. Coglianese knew J.G. when he shared photos of her with others. USCA11 Case: 20-12074 Date Filed: 05/17/2022 Page: 4 of 20

20-12074 Opinion of the Court 4

The district court asked defense counsel to address the government’s request for a sentence at the high end of the guideline range, which was unusual given that Mr. Coglianese had pled guilty to all of the charges. The court noted that the prosecutor assigned to the case was highly respected and did not typically request high-end sentences as a matter of course. The court explained that it usually gave less weight to recommendations from prosecutors who requested the high end of the guidelines in “every case.” See D.E. 85 at 46. When, as here, the request came from a prosecutor who was known to consider the circumstances of each defendant before making a sentencing recommendation, the court considered the recommendation differently. See id. With respect to the parties’ sentencing recommendations, the district court said that it was considering a sentence at the low end of the guidelines as opposed to a high-end sentence or a downward variance. Although the downward variance Mr. Coglianese requested was modest, the court was hesitant to grant it because of the nature of his relationship with J.G. See id. at 44– 45. Unlike other child pornography cases, Mr. Coglianese knew his victim. And Mr. Coglianese had further victimized J.G. by sharing nude photos of her with others after having cultivated a relationship with her. See id. at 45. The district court ultimately sentenced Mr. Coglianese to 168 months in prison—the low end of the sentencing guidelines range—followed by 30 years of supervised release. The terms of USCA11 Case: 20-12074 Date Filed: 05/17/2022 Page: 5 of 20

20-12074 Opinion of the Court 5

supervised release included a special condition barring Mr. Coglianese from using or possessing a computer or a device capable of connecting to the internet without prior approval from the probation office. The special condition also prohibited him from possessing an “electronic data storage medium, including a flash drive, [a] compact disk, a floppy disk, or any other data encryption technique or program.” D.E. 85 at 63. See also D.E. 74 at 5 (judgment containing nearly identical language). 1 In explaining the sentence, the district court said it had considered all of the sentencing factors under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). The court emphasized the importance of punishment, deterrence, and protecting the public, and explained it had weighed the statutory factors against the “compelling circumstances” Mr. Coglianese presented before arriving at the sentence. At the end of the hearing, Mr. Coglianese objected “to the procedural and substantive reasonableness of the sentence, both as applied to the imprisonment and, in particular, to the computer term and the length of the term of the supervised release.” D.E. 85 at 67. This appeal followed.

1 The presentence investigation report recommended a special condition imposing “computer/internet restrictions” but did not provide any specific proposed language. See PSR at 19, ¶ 151. The recommendation did not include any reference to “electronic data storage medium/media” or propose any restriction on the use or possession of such materials. USCA11 Case: 20-12074 Date Filed: 05/17/2022 Page: 6 of 20

20-12074 Opinion of the Court 6

II Generally, we review the reasonableness of a sentence for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Irey, 612 F.3d 1160, 1186 (11th Cir. 2010) (en banc) (citing Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 46 (2007)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
34 F.4th 1002, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-blaine-joyner-coglianese-ca11-2022.