United States v. Randall Roebuck, Jr.

517 F. App'x 867
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 25, 2013
Docket11-15775
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 517 F. App'x 867 (United States v. Randall Roebuck, Jr.) 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. Randall Roebuck, Jr., 517 F. App'x 867 (11th Cir. 2013).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Randall Roebuck, Jr., appeals his 235-month sentence, at the low end of the applicable guideline range, imposed after a jury found him guilty of one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). On appeal, Roebuck argues that the district court erred by including four criminal history points on the basis of two prior convictions that he claims the government failed to prove. Roebuck challenges the prior convictions described in Paragraphs 31 and 33 of the presen-tence investigation report (“PSI”). Roebuck contends that, as the government failed to present any evidence at sentencing establishing the convictions that he disputed, the court should not have included the four points when it calculated his criminal history score. Accordingly, Roebuck argues that his sentence within the court’s guideline range was procedurally unreasonable. After thorough review of the record, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm Roebuck’s sentence.

I.

We review the application of the Sentencing Guidelines de novo and the district court’s findings of fact for clear error. United States v. Ellisor, 522 F.3d 1255, 1273 n. 25 (11th Cir.2008). We review the procedural reasonableness of a sentence, including whether the guideline range was properly calculated, for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Register, 678 F.3d 1262, 1266 (11th Cir.2012). We may affirm on any ground supported by the record. Bircoll v. Miami-Dade Cnty., 480 F.3d 1072, 1088 n. 21 (11th Cir.2007).

A sentence is procedurally unreasonable if the district court failed to calculate or incorrectly calculated the guideline range, treated the Guidelines as mandatory, failed *869 to consider the § 3558(a) factors, selected a sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or failed to explain adequately the chosen sentence. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51, 128 S.Ct. 586, 597, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007). The party challenging the sentence has the burden of establishing that the sentence was unreasonable. United States v. Talley, 431 F.3d 784, 788 (11th Cir.2005).

Once a defendant objects to a fact contained in the PSI at sentencing, the government bears the burden of proving that disputed fact by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Rodriguez, 398 F.3d 1291, 1296 (11th Cir.2005); see also United States v. Martinez, 584 F.3d 1022, 1027 (11th Cir.2009) (“It is by now abundantly clear that once a defendant objects to a fact contained in the PSI, the government bears the burden of proving that disputed fact by a preponderance of the evidence.”). The preponderance of evidence is a “relaxed evidentiary standard, however, it does not grant the court a license to sentence a defendant in the absence of sufficient evidence when that defendant has properly objected to a factual conclusion.” Rodriguez, 398 F.3d at 1296.

II.

At the initial sentencing, Roebuck’s counsel indicated to the district court that he had reviewed the judgments and indictments and that “everything I looked at showed that the [PSI] is correct” and that, “notwithstanding Mr. Roebuck’s memory,” the issue had “been thoroughly checked out as far as I can tell.” Doc. 47 at 4, 8-9. Afterwards, Roebuck addressed the district court and personally challenged the PSI’s description of his criminal history. Roebuck challenged his convictions as set forth in Paragraphs 25-26 and 28-29 of the PSI, as well as his convictions described in Paragraphs 31 (two counts of resisting an officer without violence) and 33 (trespass of a conveyance). As relevant to the instant appeal, Roebuck argued that he was actually found not guilty of the charges in Paragraphs 31 and 33. Defense counsel specifically responded to the district court’s questions regarding the convictions in Paragraphs 31 and 33, stating, with regard to the conviction in Paragraph 33, that “I reviewed the judgment and sentence in that particular case” and “[i]t reflects that Mr. Roebuck went to trial and was found guilty.” Id. at 5. With regard to the convictions in Paragraph 31, and in response to a specific question from the court, defense counsel responded that he had reviewed the state documents underlying the conviction and that they showed that Roebuck had been convicted of the specific offenses. Id. at 6. The district court also spoke with the probation officer in court, who answered “yes” when asked whether the records that she had in court appeared “normal on their face.” Id. at 10. Although the defense attorney had candidly acknowledged that the PSI accurately reflected the prior convictions as revealed in the underlying state court documents, Roebuck himself had lodged two objections: first, that some of his earlier convictions were convictions under the Youthful Offender Act; and second, that his personal recollection of events was inconsistent with the facts as revealed in the underlying state court documents and reflected in turn in the PSI. Only the latter objection is relevant to the two prior convictions challenged on appeal — i.e., those referred to in Paragraphs 31 and 33 of the PSI. The district court, while noting that the convictions in the PSI were “probably” correct, continued the sentencing proceedings for the next week.

The record reveals that the district court continued sentencing until the next week for two reasons: primarily to con *870 firm the district court’s tentative thoughts that Roebuck’s assertions — that several of his prior convictions were pursuant to the Youth Offender Act — did not affect the Guideline calculation, but also to allow counsel to talk to the attorneys handling the prior proceedings to demonstrate any error in the underlying state courts documents. At the continued sentencing the following week, the district court resolved both matters which had prompted the continuance of the original sentencing. The district court verified that neither party had talked to attorneys who handled the prior proceedings, and that neither party had found any evidence to impeach the accuracy of the copies of the underlying state court convictions. Doc. 48 at 20. Thus, after resolving the Youthful Offender Act issue, 1 the district court found— with respect to the prior convictions challenged now on appeal, i.e., those referred to in Paragraphs 31 and 33 of the PSI— that the copies of the underlying state court documents which the parties had in hand accurately reflected the fact of those prior convictions, and thus that the PSI was accurate in this regard.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Roebuck v. United States
134 S. Ct. 356 (Supreme Court, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
517 F. App'x 867, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-randall-roebuck-jr-ca11-2013.