United States v. Demetre Grace

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: February 19, 2021
• Docket: 20-1705
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 20-1705 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Demetre Tiawan Grace

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Eastern ____________

Submitted: February 16, 2021 Filed: February 19, 2021 [Unpublished] ____________

Before GRASZ, WOLLMAN, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________

PER CURIAM.

After considering a number of factors, the district court 1 decided not to reduce Demetre Grace’s 300-month prison sentence under the First Step Act. See

1 The Honorable John A. Jarvey, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Pub. L. No. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194 (2018). Though he challenges the decision on a host of grounds, we affirm.

We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion. See United States v. McDonald, 944 F.3d 769, 771–72 (8th Cir. 2019) (discussing the standard of review and outlining the two-step analysis for motions under the First Step Act). The First Step Act did not require the court to reduce Grace’s sentence, even if he was eligible. § 404(c), 132 Stat. at 5222 (“Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a court to reduce any sentence pursuant to this section.”). And the court did more than enough by considering the statutory sentencing factors before making a decision. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a); United States v. Moore, 963 F.3d 725, 727 (8th Cir. 2020) (explaining that, in reviewing a First Step Act motion, “a district court may, but need not, consider the section 3553 factors”).

We accordingly affirm the judgment of the district court and grant counsel permission to withdraw. ______________________________

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