United States v. Sunni Newell

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: January 28, 2025
• Docket: 24-1201
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 24-1201 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Sunni Askari Newell

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

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

Submitted: January 13, 2025 Filed: January 28, 2025 [Unpublished] ____________

Before LOKEN, ARNOLD, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________

PER CURIAM.

After being convicted of possessing a firearm as a person convicted of domestic violence, see 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(9), 924(a)(2), Sunni Askari Newell violated the conditions of his second term of supervised release by, among other things, assaulting his girlfriend. The district court1 described Newell as "incorrigible" and "a danger to the community" and sentenced him to 24 months in prison, which was longer than the sentence of 8–14 months that the Guidelines recommended. Newell maintains on appeal that the district court "gave excessive and improper weight" to the assault, resulting in an unreasonable sentence.

We disagree. We find no fault in district court's viewing the assault as "an extreme abuse of trust" to be considered "very seriously," particularly in light of his previous conviction for domestic violence. We note as well that other relevant considerations played a significant role in the court's sentencing decision. For example, the court observed that the 14-month prison sentence it imposed the first time it revoked Newell's supervision had "had no impact" on him, as he started violating his release conditions again only a few days after serving that sentence. And as the district court noted, Newell "has a long history of violence and firearms violations" and "has not performed well under supervision." In short, this is not "the unusual case when we reverse a district court sentence—whether within, above, or below the applicable Guidelines range—as substantively unreasonable." See United States v. Evans, 63 F.4th 1157, 1160 (8th Cir. 2023).

Affirmed. ______________________________

1 The Honorable C.J. Williams, United States District Judge, now Chief Judge, for the Northern District of Iowa.

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