United States v. Emilia Taisha Glover

559 F. App'x 952
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 28, 2014
Docket13-12578
StatusUnpublished

This text of 559 F. App'x 952 (United States v. Emilia Taisha Glover) 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. Emilia Taisha Glover, 559 F. App'x 952 (11th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Emilia Taisha Glover was initially charged in a four-count indictment. Pursuant to a plea agreement, however, Glover ' pleaded guilty to only two of those charges: unauthorized use of a credit card to obtain more than $1,000 in goods, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(2) (Count 2), and aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(l) (Count 4). Glover was sentenced to 34 months total— 10 months, which was at the low end of the guidelines, for Count 2, and 24 months, a required statutory sentence, for Count 4. She appeals her 10-month sentence, arguing that it was procedurally and substantively unreasonable. We affirm.

I. Standard of Review

We review the reasonableness of a sentence under an abuse of discretion standard. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41, 128 S.Ct. 586, 591, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007). “That familiar standard allows a range of choice for the district court, so long as that choice does not constitute a clear error of judgment.” United States v. Irey, 612 F.3d 1160, 1189 (11th Cir.2010) (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted). The burden of establishing unreasonableness lies with the party challenging *954 the sentence. United States v. Talley, 431 F.3d 784, 788 (11th Cir.2005) (per curiam).

Because Glover failed to object to her sentence on procedural reasonableness grounds in the district court, we review her procedural reasonableness challenge for plain error. See United States v. Jones, 899 F.2d 1097, 1103 (11th Cir.1990) overruled on other grounds by United States v. Morrill, 984 F.2d 1136 (11th Cir.1993) (en banc) (per curiam). In Jones, we held:

[When] the district court has offered the opportunity to object and a party is silent or fails to state the grounds for objection, objections to the sentence will be waived for purposes of appeal, and this court will not entertain an appeal based upon such objections unless refusal to do so would result in manifest injustice.

Id. And “[o]ur case law equates manifest injustice with the plain error standard of review.” United States v. Quintana, 300 F.3d 1227, 1232 (11th Cir.2002). Under plain error review, we ask whether there is: “(1) error, (2) that is plain, and (3) that affects substantial rights. If all three conditions are met, an appellate court may then exercise its discretion to notice a forfeited error, but only if (4) the error seriously affect[s] the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625, 631, 122 S.Ct. 1781, 1785, 152 L.Ed.2d 860 (2002) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). If these three conditions are met, we then decide whether the error seriously affected the fairness, integrity or public reputation of the judicial proceeding. Id.

II. Discussion

A. Reasonableness of Sentence

When reviewing the reasonableness of a sentence, we will first

ensure that the district court committed no significant procedural error, such as failing to calculate (or improperly calculating) the Guidelines range, treating the Guidelines as mandatory, failing to consider the § 3553(a) factors, selecting a sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or failing to adequately explain the chosen sentence — including an explanation for any deviation from the Guidelines range.

Gall, 552 U.S. at 51, 128 S.Ct. at 597.

In explaining the sentence, the district court should provide enough information to satisfy the reviewing court of the fact that it considered the parties’ arguments and has a reasoned basis for making its decision, see Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338, 356, 127 S.Ct. 2456, 2468, 168 L.Ed.2d 203 (2007), but “nothing ... requires the district court to state on the record that it has explicitly considered each of the § 3553(a) factors or to discuss each of the § 3553(a) factors.” United States v. Scott, 426 F.3d 1324, 1329 (11th Cir.2005).

After we determine that the district court’s sentencing decision is proeedurally sound, we then review the substantive reasonableness of the sentence for abuse of discretion. Gall, 552 U.S. at 51, 128 S.Ct. at 597. We have held that

[a] district court abuses its discretion when it (1) fails to afford consideration to relevant factors that were due significant weight, (2) gives significant weight to an improper or irrelevant factor, or (3) commits a clear error of judgment in considering the proper factors. As for the third way that discretion can be abused, a district court commits a clear error of judgment when it considers the proper factors but balances them unreasonably.

Irey, 612 F.3d at 1189 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).

*955 A district court’s unfounded reliance on a single factor “may be a symptom of an unreasonable sentence.” United States v. Pugh, 515 F.3d 1179, 1191 (11th Cir.2008). However, significant reliance on a single factor does not necessarily make a sentence unreasonable. Id. at 1192; see Gall, 552 U.S. at 57, 128 S.Ct. at 600 (holding that a district court did not commit reversible error simply because it “attached great weight” to one factor). We have held that “[t]he weight to be accorded any given § 3553(a) factor is a matter committed to the sound discretion of the district court, and we will not substitute our judgment in weighing the relevant factors.” United States v. Amedeo, 487 F.3d 823, 832 (11th Cir.2007) (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted).

When reviewing a sentence for reasonableness, we also assess whether the sentence imposed by the district court fails to achieve the purposes of sentencing under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Talley, 431 F.3d at 788.

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Related

United States v. Miguel Alfonso Quintana
300 F.3d 1227 (Eleventh Circuit, 2002)
United States v. David William Scott
426 F.3d 1324 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. John Kevin Talley
431 F.3d 784 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Michael A. Crisp
454 F.3d 1285 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Damon Amedeo
487 F.3d 823 (Eleventh Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Pugh
515 F.3d 1179 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Williams
526 F.3d 1312 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Gonzalez
550 F.3d 1319 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Cotton
535 U.S. 625 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Rita v. United States
551 U.S. 338 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Gall v. United States
552 U.S. 38 (Supreme Court, 2007)
United States v. McNair
605 F.3d 1152 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Irey
612 F.3d 1160 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Scott Evan Jones
899 F.2d 1097 (Eleventh Circuit, 1990)
United States v. Alfred Octave Morrill, Jr.
984 F.2d 1136 (Eleventh Circuit, 1993)

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559 F. App'x 952, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-emilia-taisha-glover-ca11-2014.