Opinions of the United
2006 Decisions States Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit
5-10-2006
USA v. Rene
Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential
Docket No. 05-1287
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Recommended Citation
"USA v. Rene" (2006). 2006 Decisions. Paper 1134.
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 05-1287
___________
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
v.
JIMMY E. RENE,
Appellant.
________________________
ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
District Court Judge: The Honorable James K. Gardner
(Criminal No. 04-00459)
___________
Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a)
April 28, 2006
BEFORE: AMBRO and FUENTES, Circuit Judges, and IRENAS,* District Judge.
(Filed: May 10, 2006 )
_______________________
OPINION OF THE COURT
_______________________
*
Honorable Joseph E. Irenas, Senior District Judge for the United States District
Court for the District of New Jersey, sitting by designation.
FUENTES, Circuit Judge.
Following a jury trial, Appellant Jimmy Rene was convicted of one count of being
a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). Rene was sentenced
to 57 months in prison on January 27, 2005, shortly after the Supreme Court issued its
opinion in United States v. Booker, which held that the federal sentencing guidelines are
advisory. 543 U.S. 220, 259-60 (2005). Rene now argues that his sentence was
unreasonable because the District Court focused excessively on the applicable sentencing
guidelines range and on deterrence interests in determining an appropriate sentence, and
did not give enough consideration to other relevant factors. We hold that the District
Court’s sentence was reasonable, and we therefore affirm.1
I. DISCUSSION
In imposing a reasonable sentence, a District Court must exercise its discretion by
giving meaningful consideration to all relevant factors listed in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).
United States v. Cooper, 437 F.3d 324, 329 (3d Cir. 2006). In this case, the relevant
1
The District Court had jurisdiction over this federal criminal case pursuant to 18
U.S.C. § 3231. This Court has jurisdiction to review Rene’s sentence for reasonableness
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a)(1). See United States v. Cooper, 437 F.3d 324, 327 (3d
Cir. 2006). The government argues in its brief that this Court does not have jurisdiction to
consider the reasonableness of Rene’s sentence because the sentence was within the
correctly calculated sentencing guideline range. We rejected that claim in Cooper, 437
F.3d at 327-28, which was decided after the government’s submission of its brief in this
case.
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factors are:
(1) the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and
characteristics of the defendant;
(2) the need for the sentence imposed-
(A) to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for
the law, and to provide just punishment for the offense;
(B) to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct;
(C) to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant; and
(D) to provide the defendant with needed educational or vocational
training, medical care, or other correctional treatment in the most
effective manner;
(3) the kinds of sentences available;
(4) the kinds of sentence and the sentencing range established for . . . the
applicable category of offense committed by the applicable category of
defendant as set forth in the guidelines . . . .
18 U.S.C. § 3553(a); see Cooper, 437 F.3d at 329. In making a sentencing determination,
a court need not discuss and make findings as to each relevant factor, but the record must
make clear that the court took each factor into account. Cooper, 437 F.3d at 329. A rote
listing by the court of the § 3553(a) factors is not sufficient if either party properly raises
a claim with “recognized legal merit and factual support in the record” and the court fails
to address it. Id. at 329, 332. Where the court imposes a sentence within the applicable
sentencing guidelines range, that sentence is not considered reasonable per se, but such a
sentence is more likely to be reasonable than a sentence outside the sentencing guidelines
range. Id. at 331.
Here, Rene has not met his burden of showing that the District Court’s sentence
was unreasonable. After calculating the applicable sentencing guidelines range as 51 to
63 months and imposing a 57 month sentence, the District Court made the following
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statement:
The defendant is a 24 year-old man who, over a brief period of time,
has accumulated a substantial criminal record. Since the age of 16, he has
been arrested and convicted seven times. However, four of the defendant’s
six prior convictions have not been considered in computing the defendant’s
criminal history category because of time period constraints.
This offense represents the third offense in which the defendant was
in possession of a weapon[,] which reflects the increased danger of violence
when offenders possess weapons. He has been basically on his own since
the age of 14 and has resisted any type of authority or responsibility. At the
time of this offense, the defendant was on state parole supervision for
previous narcotics trafficking offenses.
I considered several factors in imposing a 57-month period of
incarceration, including the nature and the circumstances of the offense and
the history and characteristics of the defendant, a sentence to reflect the
seriousness of the offense[,] to promote respect for the law and to provide
just punishment for the offense. I considered the deterrence of future
criminal conduct by this defendant and by others, and I considered the need
to protect the public from further crimes of this defendant.
I also considered the educational and vocational training needs of
this defendant in imposing a sentence with a recommendation to the Bureau
of Prisons that he be incarcerated in a federal correctional institution where
he would be able to get such vocational and educational training, not only
because he requested it, but because I consider the defendant a person who
has the intelligence and the ability to benefit from such education and
training and because he desires to receive it, which is a positive thing.
This record does not support Rene’s claim that the District Court gave overriding
consideration to the applicable guideline range and to deterrence concerns without taking
into account other relevant factors. Rene does not point to any legitimate claims raised by
him that the District Court failed to address, and it is clear that the District Court gave an
appropriately careful and individualized consideration of Rene’s case. We find that the
sentence imposed was reasonable, and Rene’s appeal is therefore denied.
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