Case: 14-10961 Date Filed: 09/29/2014 Page: 1 of 3
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 14-10961
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 1:07-cr-00047-CG-WC-8
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
LADAWN BURKS,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Alabama
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(September 29, 2014)
Before WILSON, WILLIAM PRYOR and ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
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Ladawn Burks appeals his sentence of 30 months of imprisonment,
following the second revocation of his supervised release. See 18 U.S.C.
§ 3583(e)(3). He argues that the district court failed to explain the reasons for its
chosen sentence and that his sentence is substantively unreasonable. We affirm.
The district court provided a reasoned basis for its decision. The district
court stated that it had “considered the chapter seven provisions” of the Sentencing
Guidelines, see U.S.S.G. § 7A intro. cmt., and determined that a sentence of
imprisonment was necessary because his conduct made “it very difficult for [him]
to be supervised by the probation office.” As explained by the district court,
Burks’s supervised release had been “revoked before because [he] tested positive
for cocaine and marijuana,” failed to complete his sentence of “six months at the
halfway house,” and “used [a controlled substance] right after” being expelled
from the halfway house. Burks argues that it is unclear why the district court
varied upward from his advisory guideline range of four to ten months of
imprisonment, but the district court explained that it selected a sentence to address
Burks’s “second revocation.”
Burks’s sentence is reasonable. As explained by the district court, Burks is
not “amenable to supervision.” Within the first four months of his release from
prison, Burks twice tested positive for cocaine, and the district court and the
probation office modified the conditions of supervised release for Burks to receive
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Case: 14-10961 Date Filed: 09/29/2014 Page: 3 of 3
mental health treatment and to enroll in a residential treatment drug program.
After Burks admitted a third time to using cocaine, the district court revoked
Burks’s supervised release and sentenced him to a custodial sentence of six months
followed by 54 months of supervised release, the first 180 days of which he was to
stay in a halfway house, but Burks was expelled from the halfway house. The
district court was entitled to revoke Burks’s second term of supervised release after
he admitted to using synthetic marijuana, which was a grade B violation of his
supervised release, see U.S.S.G. § 7B1.1(a)(2) & cmt. n.3; Ala. Code §§ 13A-5-
6(a)(3), 13A-12-212(b). The district court reasonably determined that a term of
imprisonment of 30 months was necessary to address the nature and circumstances
of Burks’s violation and his history and characteristics. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).
Burks argues that his sentence is excessive in the light of his lack of a criminal
history, his minor violations of his supervised release, and his inability to obtain
drug treatment, but lesser sentences have been ineffective. The district court did
not abuse its discretion.
We AFFIRM Burks’s sentence.
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