United States v. Cesar M. Valencia

686 F. App'x 829
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 28, 2017
Docket16-14360 Non-Argument Calendar
StatusUnpublished

This text of 686 F. App'x 829 (United States v. Cesar M. Valencia) 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. Cesar M. Valencia, 686 F. App'x 829 (11th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Defendant Cesar M. Valencia pled guilty to conspiracy to possess. with intent to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine while aboard a vessel, in violation of 46 U.S.C. §§ 70508(a), 70506(a), (b) and 21 U.S.C. § 960(b)(l)(B)(ii). At a joint sentencing hearing, the district court revoked Valencia’s supervised release term for an earlier 2003 federal cocaine smuggling offense and imposed a total 144-month sentence. Specifically, Valencia’s sentence is composed of a mandatory-minimum 120-month sentence for his new 2015 cocaine conspiracy offense and a consecutive 24-month sentence on his earlier 2003 offense for his admitted supervised release violation. On appeal, Valencia argues that the district court’s decision to run his 24-month revocation sentence consecutively, rather than concurrently, rendered his total 144-month sentence substantively unreasonable. After review, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND FACTS

In 2003, Valencia was one of eight Colombian crewmembers on a vessel containing ninety bales, over 5,500 pounds, of cocaine when it was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. In 2004, Valencia pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine while aboard a vessel, in violation of 46 U.S.C. § 1903(a), (g), (j) (2000). The district court originally imposed a 135-month sentence, but later reduced the prison term to 87 months for substantial assistance. In September 2012, after completing his 87-month sentence, Valencia began serving a 60-month term of supervised release.

Among the conditions of supervised release, the district court ordered Valencia not to illegally possess a controlled substance or to commit a federal, state, or local crime. In October 2012, Valencia was deported to Colombia.

Less than three years later, in July 2015, the U.S. Coast Guard discovered a self-propelled, semi-submersible vessel in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. After boarding, the U.S. Coast Guard found 6,900 kilograms of cocaine in the vessel’s hull. Valencia, who was still on supervised release, was one of four crew-members, along with his nephew Robert Valencia.

Defendant Valencia again pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine while aboard a vessel, in violation of 46 U.S.C. §§ 70503(a), 70506(a), (b), and 21 U.S.C. § 960(b)(l)(B)(ii) (2012). Valencia admitted to violating the terms of his supervised release and consented to the consolidation of his two criminal cases for sentencing. 1 The district court held a joint sentencing and revocation hearing. For Valencia’s current cocaine-smuggling conspiracy offense,.the district court imposed a statutory mandatory-minimum 120-month sentence, which was 48 months below the advisory guidelines range of 168 to 210 months. For Valencia’s supervised release violation, the district court imposed a 24-month sentence for his earlier 2003 offense, at the low end of the advisory guide *831 lines range of 24 to 30 months, to be served consecutively to his 120-month sentence on his new 2015 offense. Valencia filed this appeal of the district court’s judgment. 2

II. DISCUSSION

We review the reasonableness of a sentence under a deferential abuse of discretion standard. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51, 128 S.Ct. 586, 597, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007); see also United States v. Vandergrift, 754 F.3d 1303, 1307 (11th Cir. 2014) (stating that we review a sentence imposed upon a revocation of supervised release for reasonableness). In undertaking a reasonableness review, we first look at whether the district court committed any significant procedural error and then at whether the sentence is substantively unreasonable in light of the 18 U.S.C.' § 3553(a) factors and the totality of the circumstances. United States v. Pugh, 515 F.3d 1179, 1190 (11th Cir. 2008). 3

The abuse of discretion standard “allows a range of choice for the district court,” and we will vacate a sentence only if “left with the definite and firm conviction that the district court committed a clear error of judgment in weighing the § 3553(a) factors by arriving at a sentence that lies outside the range of reasonable sentences dictated by the facts of the case.” United States v. Irey, 612 F.3d 1160, 1189-90 (11th Cir. 2010) (en banc) (quotation marks omitted). The party challenging the sentence bears the burden of showing that the sentence is unreasonable in light of the record and the § 3553(a) factors. Dougherty, 754 F.3d at 1361.

A district court may order multiple terms of imprisonment to run concurrently or consecutively when the district court imposes the terms on the defendant at the same time. 18 U.S.C. § 3584(a). According to the policy statements in Chapter 7 of the Sentencing Guidelines, any sentence imposed upon revocation is a sanction for the defendant’s breach of trust, and, as such, “should be in addition, or consecutive, to any sentence imposed for new conduct.” U.S.S.G. ch. 7, pt. A 3(b). Thus, “[a]ny term of imprisonment imposed upon the revocation ... of supervised release shall be ordered to be served consecutively to any sentence of imprisonment that the defendant is serving, whether or not the sentence of imprisonment being served resulted from the conduct that is the basis of the revocation of ... supervised release.” U.S.S.G. § 7B1.3(f), p.s.

Before imposing a prison term upon revocation, a district court must consider most of the § 3553(a) factors. 4 See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e); Vandergrift, 754 F.3d at 1308-09. Likewise, a district court determining *832 whether to order terms of imprisonment to run concurrently or consecutively “shall consider, as to each offense for which a term of imprisonment is being imposed, the factors set forth in [18 U.S.C. § ] 3553(a).” 18 U.S.C. § 3584(b). As with our reasonableness review, we review a district court’s imposition of consecutive sentences for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Covington, 565 F.3d 1336

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Related

United States v. David William Scott
426 F.3d 1324 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Pugh
515 F.3d 1179 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Covington
565 F.3d 1336 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Langston
590 F.3d 1226 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
Gall v. United States
552 U.S. 38 (Supreme Court, 2007)
United States v. Irey
612 F.3d 1160 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Walter Henry Vandergrift, Jr.
754 F.3d 1303 (Eleventh Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Dylan Stanley
754 F.3d 1353 (Eleventh Circuit, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
686 F. App'x 829, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-cesar-m-valencia-ca11-2017.