Opinions of the United
2009 Decisions States Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit
1-13-2009
USA v. Purnell
Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential
Docket No. 07-3257
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
_________
No.07-3257
_________
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.,
Appellee,
v.
CHANCE PURNELL.
Appellant.
___________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Case No. 02-CR-00025-2
(Honorable James T. Giles)
__________________
Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
on December 8, 2008
Before: McKEE, SMITH, and ROTH Circuit Judges
(Filed: January 13, 2009)
OPINION OF THE COURT
McKEE, Circuit Judge
Chance Purnell appeals the 20 month sentence of imprisonment imposed by the
district court after Purnell violated the terms of his supervised release. For the reasons
that follow, we will affirm.
Because we write primarily for the parties, it is not necessary to recite the facts or
history of this case except insofar as may be helpful to our brief discussion. The
guideline range for the two Grade C violations Purnell admitted was 8-14 months. The
maximum statutory penalty was two years. On appeal, Purnell argues that the district
court’s sentence of 20 months incarceration was unreasonable because it was wholly
punitive, disregarded his need for treatment, and ignored the sentencing factors set forth
in Section 3553(a). We disagree.
In Gall v. United States, 128 S.Ct. 58, Id at 597. The Supreme Court clarified that
we must first ensure that the district court “committed no significant procedural error,
such as ... failing to consider the 3553(a) factors...” Id. Absent any procedural error, we
must “consider the substantive reasonableness of the sentence imposed under the abuse-
of-discretion standard,” taking into account the totality of the circumstances. Id.
The district court is required to consider each of the § 3553(a) factors and “set
forth enough to satisfy the appellate court that he has considered the parties’ arguments
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and has a reasoned basis for exercising his own legal decision making authority.” United
States v. Lessner, 498 F.3d 185, 203 (3d Cir. 2007) (quoting Rita v. United States, 127 S.
Ct. 2456, 2468 (2007)).
The record shows that the district court considered Purnell’s criminal history and
the seriousness of the underlying violation. See. App. 29-30. Despite Purnell’s argument
to the contrary, the court also considered his need for drug treatment. Understandably,
the court discounted the value of treatment noting that Purnell had frustrated earlier
“trusting and generous” efforts at rehabilitation with “calculated deception.” Id. at 30.
Purnell also argues that the trial court did not reasonably apply the 3553(a) factors
because the sentence exceeds the advisory Guideline range. That argument is frivolous.
Given Purnell’s repeated infractions, and his repeated attempts to deceive his
probation officers, drug counselors and the court, as well as the number of times he failed
supervised release, the court acted quite reasonably in imposing a sentence that exceeded
the recommended range.
II.
For all of the above reasons, we will affirm the district court’s sentence.
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