NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
File Name: 21a0148n.06
Case No. 19-2491
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED
Mar 22, 2021
DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, )
)
Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ON APPEAL FROM THE
) UNITED STATES DISTRICT
v. ) COURT FOR THE WESTERN
) DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
CRAIG SCHENVINSKY JAMES, )
) OPINION
Defendant-Appellant. )
)
BEFORE: McKEAGUE, GRIFFIN, and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges.
NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. Defendant Craig Schenvinsky James appeals
his 108-month sentence following a plea agreement with the government for his role
in a drug trafficking conspiracy. Though his sentencing guidelines range was 70 to
87 months, the district court exercised its discretion to impose a longer sentence after
reviewing James’s case. James argues that his sentence was neither procedurally nor
substantively reasonable, but we disagree. Accordingly, we AFFIRM.
I. BACKGROUND
This case arises from Craig James’s involvement with a Michigan drug
trafficking enterprise. For about two months before his May 2018 arrest, James
supplied this enterprise with over five kilograms of cocaine. James met with his co-
conspirators at least nine times to deliver drugs or facilitate drug deals. He also
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
supplied them with “high grade” marijuana more than once. (R. 699, Presentence
Report, PageID 3591.) When law enforcement arrested James at a traffic stop, James
possessed marijuana and $4,760.
The government charged James and 26 codefendants with conspiracy to
distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base. In February
2019, James pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge. As a part of this plea agreement,
James acknowledged that the court would make the final determination of his
applicable United States Sentencing Guidelines (“USSG”) range, with the possibility
that the court would impose a sentence above the USSG range. James’s Presentence
Investigation Report calculated a total offense level of 34 and a criminal history
category of VI, making James’s guideline imprisonment range 262 to 327 months.1
This included a five-level increase because James was considered a career offender at
the time under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1(a).
But because James substantially assisted law enforcement by testifying
against some of his codefendants, the government moved for a six-level downward
departure. U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1. That lowered James’s offense level to 28, with a
guidelines range of 140 to 175 months—still above the 120-month statutory
1 James has a long criminal history, with multiple drug offenses involving
cocaine and marijuana. James’s criminal history begins with his first arrest in 1988
at age 19. It includes an arrest in 1998 for attempting to sell cocaine base while armed
with a loaded .38 revolver, and an arrest in 2010—when James failed to obey a police
officer during a traffic stop, pushed an officer from his moving vehicle, and ultimately
fled from police. James was most recently arrested for possession of marijuana in
2015.
2
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
minimum—and still under the continuing assumption that James was a career
offender.
James was sentenced in December 2019. But around the time that the
probation office prepared James’s PSR in June 2019, we decided United States v.
Havis, which held that the guidelines’ definition for a “controlled substance offense”
does not include “attempt crimes,” meaning that drug conspiracy convictions under
21 U.S.C. § 846 would no longer be controlled substance offenses for the purposes of
§ 4B1.1. 927 F.3d 382, 387 (6th Cir. 2019) (en banc) (per curiam). In light of Havis,
the government acknowledged in its sentencing memorandum that “an argument
could be made that conspiring to distribute controlled substances is not a controlled
substance offense under the guidelines.” (R. 987, Gov’t 5K Mot. and Sent’g Mem.,
PageID 6175–76.) And this argument would affect both James’s criminal history and
offense calculation. Under the government’s calculation, James’s range, without his
classification as a career offender and maintaining the six-level reduction for his
cooperation, would be 70 to 87 months.
Still, the government argued for a sentence within the original range. The
government claimed that, even if James was not a “technical career offender” under
the guidelines, “he certainly has made a career out of selling drugs . . . and therefore
a sentence within the higher Guideline range of 140 to 175 months is appropriate.”
(Id. at 6176.) Otherwise, the government later argued, Havis would amount to “a
potential huge windfall” to James and other defendants whose plea bargains had
assumed their career-offender status and whose non-career-offender sentences would
3
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
not reflect their prominent roles in drug conspiracies. (R. 1213, Sent’g Tr., PageID
11347.) A higher sentence, the government noted, would serve the § 3553(a) factors
of deterrence and account for James’s long criminal history and the nature of the
crime.
James made two main arguments. First, acknowledging that the statutory
minimum term was 10 years, he requested that the district court sentence him to 10
years if the government would not release the mandatory minimum at the time of
sentencing. But by the time of sentencing, it was clear that the government intended
to continue to request a downward adjustment for substantial assistance. So James
argued for a further reduction below the § 5K1.1 adjusted range of 70 to 87 months.
The two main guidelines issues facing the trial court at sentencing were
whether to apply the career offender provision to James and whether to grant the
government’s § 5K1.1 motion and release the mandatory minimum. For its part, by
the time of the sentencing hearing, the government agreed that the career offender
was not applicable under Havis. The government continued to argue, however, that
a sentence above the applicable 70 to 87 month range should apply.
The trial court concluded that, given Havis, the career offender guideline did
not apply and granted the government’s § 5K1.1 motion for downward departure. As
a result, it determined that the relevant guidelines range was 70 to 87 months. But
after considering the parties’ arguments, hearing from James, and considering the
§ 3353(a) factors, the court varied upwards four levels to a sentencing range of 100 to
4
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
125 months. Then the court chose a 108-month sentence. James appeals the sentence
as procedurally and substantively unreasonable.
II. DISCUSSION
A. Standard of Review
We review district court sentencing decisions for reasonableness in two
respects: procedural reasonableness (the method of arriving at the length of the
sentence must be reasonable) and substantive reasonableness (the length of the
sentence must be reasonable, considering the totality of the circumstances). See
United States v. Rayyan, 885 F.3d 436, 440, 442 (6th Cir. 2018). Generally, the
standard of review is the deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. See Gall v. United
States, 552 U.S. 38, 41 (2007).
With regard to procedural reasonableness, a party must object at sentencing
to give the trial court a chance to address any alleged error in the first instance. Here,
because James did not object when presented the opportunity, we review his
procedural reasonableness claim for plain error. See United States v. Bostic, 371 F.3d
865, 872–73 (6th Cir. 2004); see also Fed. R. Crim. P. 51–52. Under plain-error review,
the onus is on James to show us that (1) the district court erred in (2) an “obvious or
clear” fashion that (3) affected his substantive rights and (4) “affected the fairness,
integrity, or public reputation of the judicial proceedings.” United States v. Vonner,
516 F.3d 382, 386 (6th Cir. 2008) (en banc) (citation omitted). This is an “extremely
deferential” standard meant to prevent a miscarriage of justice. United States v.
Donadeo, 910 F.3d 886, 893 (6th Cir. 2018).
5
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
In contrast, James did not need to object to the substantive reasonableness of
his sentence to preserve that issue for appeal. United States v. Herrera-Zuniga, 571
F.3d 568, 578 (6th Cir. 2009) (citing United States v. Penson, 526 F.3d 331, 337 (6th
Cir. 2008)). Thus we review the substantive reasonableness of the district court’s
sentence for abuse of discretion. See Gall, 552 U.S. at 51.
B. Procedural Reasonableness
James contends that his sentence was procedurally unreasonable in two ways.
First, he says the district court failed to give an adequate explanation for its sentence.
And second, he says the district court arbitrarily varied upwards. We reject both
arguments.
1. Insufficient Explanation
James first argues that the district court failed to adequately explain its chosen
sentence. We disagree. For a sentence to be procedurally reasonable, the district court
must properly calculate the guidelines range, treat the guidelines as advisory (and
not as mandatory), consider the relevant sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a),
not select a sentence based on “clearly erroneous facts,” and “adequately explain” the
chosen sentence. Gall, 552 U.S. at 51. The district court should also consider the
opposing arguments for a sentence outside the range. See United States v. Dunnican,
961 F.3d 859, 880 (6th Cir. 2020) (citing Donadeo, 910 F.3d at 893).
Here, the district court did not err (let alone plainly err) in imposing James’s
sentence. The district court noted its duty to make an individualized assessment and
began with the sentencing guidelines as an initial benchmark. It properly treated
6
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
these guidelines as advisory, and not mandatory. And it listed the § 3553(a) factors
and noted that the sentence must reflect them.
The court also engaged with the arguments of both parties for departures and
variances of the sentence outside the guidelines range. First, the court agreed that
Havis meant James was not a career offender. The court then granted the
government’s § 5K1.1 motion, bringing the guidelines range down to 70 to 87 months.
But the court noted that the government had filed its § 5K1.1 motion believing that
James was a career offender. Echoing the government’s concerns of a “potential huge
windfall” to defendants, the district court noted that Havis “obviously is a major
benefit [to] the defendant, given the fact that career offender is off the table.” (R. 1213,
PageID 11347, 11363.) The court decided to “vary upward” from the advisory range
“considering the nature and circumstances of [James’s] criminal conduct [and] his
prior criminal conduct as it relates to drug dealing.” (Id. at 11364.)
The court addressed the § 3553(a) factors—and James’s arguments—in
justifying its upward variance and explaining the reasoning behind its sentence.
While the court acknowledged that James had made positive strides towards
becoming a productive and law-abiding citizen since his involvement in the
conspiracy, the court determined that James had not learned the full lesson from his
prior convictions, and it varied upwards four levels to the 100 to 125 month range.
The court reasoned that “the advisory guideline range of 70 to 87 is inadequate for
[the] purposes of just punishment [and] general deterrence of others who might
contemplate similar criminal activity.” (Id.) Taking everything into account, the court
7
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
settled on a sentence of 108 months, towards the lower end of the sentencing guideline
range the court had varied up to.
2. Arbitrary Upward Increase
Next, James argues that the district court arbitrarily increased his total
offense level from 23 to 27 without providing “a sufficient basis in the record to justify
its upward departure, pursuant to Section 4A1.3 of the guidelines.” (Appellant’s Br.
at 16–17.) James’s argument confuses variances and departures, missing an
important legal distinction.
Courts have more discretion when varying (imposing a non-guidelines
sentence based on § 3553(a) factors) and less discretion when departing (imposing a
non-guidelines sentence based on Chapter 5 of the Guidelines). United States v.
Tristan-Madrigal, 601 F.3d 629, 635 (6th Cir. 2010); Herrera-Zuniga, 571 F.3d at
586.2 When applying the § 3553(a) factors, the district court “may exercise discretion
in determining how much of an explanation of the sentence is required” and need only
provide “enough explanation to satisfy the appellate court that [it] has considered the
parties’ arguments and has a reasoned basis for exercising [its] own legal
decisionmaking authority.” United States v. Jeross, 521 F.3d 562, 582–83 (6th Cir.
2008) (citation and brackets omitted).
2Sometimes “the same facts and analyses can . . . be used to justify both a
Guidelines departure and a variance, [but] the concepts are distinct.” Tristan-
Madrigal, 601 F.3d at 635 (alteration in original) (quoting United States v. Grams,
566 F.3d 683, 687 (6th Cir. 2009)).
8
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
The district court did not apply an upward departure but varied upward based
on the § 3553(a) factors.3 The district court explicitly stated that it would vary upward
during the Sentencing Hearing, and the court said that it was imposing a variance
above the guideline range in its Statement of Reasons.
The district court provided sufficient explanation for its variance. It considered
the effect of the post-Havis sentencing regime on James’s punishment, noting how
the shift in James’s career offender status undermined everyone’s assumptions about
James’s offense level and caused a dramatically lower guidelines range. The district
court varied upward to prevent that shift from undercutting § 3553(a) considerations,
such as the seriousness of the crime. The court specifically cited the nature and
circumstances of James’s offense, James’s prior criminal conduct, and the need for
just punishment and general deterrence. District courts do not commit reversible
error by simply weighing or focusing on a few § 3553(a) factors because a few factors
are often most important. See United States v. Robinson, 892 F.3d 209, 214 (6th Cir.
2018) (citing Gall, 552 U.S. at 57; United States v. Bridgewater, 479 F.3d 439, 442
(6th Cir. 2007)). Even if the district court “might have said more,” the record makes
clear that the district court considered the arguments of both parties and the relevant
§ 3553(a) factors before making its decision. Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338, 358–
59 (2007). We find no plain error in the district court’s sentencing procedure.
The only departure the district court applied was downward under the
3
government’s § 5K1.1 motion.
9
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
C. Substantive Reasonableness
We review the substantive reasonableness of James’s sentence for abuse of
discretion, considering “the totality of the circumstances, including the extent of any
variance from the Guidelines range,” and we do not presume that sentences are
unreasonable just because they fall outside the guidelines. Gall, 552 U.S. at 51. We
“must give due deference to the district court’s decision that the § 3553(a) factors, on
a whole, justify the extent of the variance. The fact that the appellate court might
reasonably have concluded that a different sentence was appropriate is insufficient
to justify reversal of the district court.” Id.
A sentence is substantively unreasonable if the district court (1) “arbitrarily
selected the sentence,” (2) “based the sentence on impermissible factors,” (3) “failed
to consider pertinent § 3553(a) sentencing factors,” or (4) “gave an unreasonable
amount of weight to any pertinent factor.” Robinson, 892 F.3d at 213 (citation
omitted). Substantive reasonableness review serves as a safeguard against the few
instances in which the sentence, although procedurally sound, would damage the
administration of justice because it is shockingly high or low, or otherwise
unsupportable. See United States v. Krul, 774 F.3d 371, 380 (6th Cir. 2014) (Griffin,
J., concurring in the judgment) (citing United States v. Rigas, 583 F.3d 108, 123 (2d
Cir. 2009)).
James argues that neither the facts of the case nor the district court’s
explanation support the upward variance. He also argues that the district court
selected his sentence arbitrarily, that it impermissibly took his pre-Havis status as a
10
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
career offender into account, and that his case is a “mine-run” case warranting closer
scrutiny of any upward variance.
We find that the district court reasonably weighed the § 3553(a) factors. The
district court did not select the sentence arbitrarily, nor did it impermissibly consider
James’s pre-Havis career offender status. Rather, the district court properly
considered the post-Havis sentencing guideline recommendation but found it
insufficient in light of the relevant § 3553(a) factors.
James also suggests that his case was a “mine-run” drug case that fell within
the “heartland” of the guidelines, warranting closer review. Herrera-Zuniga, 571 F.3d
at 582 (citing Kimbrough v. United States, 552 U.S. 85, 109 (2007)). When reviewing
for substantive reasonableness in mine-run cases, we consider the extent of the
deviation—including the percentage of the variance from the specified guidelines
range—as well as whether the length of sentence conforms with the goals of § 3553(a),
and we ensure that the justification is “sufficiently compelling” to support the degree
of variance upon closer review. United States v. Perez-Rodriguez, 960 F.3d 748, 755
(6th Cir. 2020).
We do not find James’s “mine-run” argument compelling. The court’s extensive
justification, which we have already discussed, was sufficiently compelling, and the
deviation itself was not extreme. The district court can consider prior criminal history
when granting a variance. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(1); see also Dunnican, 961 F.3d at 881.
And the district court provided as its reasons: the seriousness of the offense, the need
to promote respect for the law, and the need to provide just punishment. 18 U.S.C.
11
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
§ 3553(a)(2)(A). The court also properly considered James’s own admission that he
had been a drug dealer for most of his life. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(1). It also emphasized
the just punishment and general deterrence factors listed under § 3353(a)(2). We find
that the district court did not give any of these factors unreasonable weight, nor did
the district court fail to consider a relevant § 3553(a) factor.
Implicit in James’s mine-run argument is a claim that his sentence is
substantively unreasonable because it is drastically higher than necessary—James
argues that it was “well over the agreed upon guideline[s] range.” (Appellant’s Br. at
1.) But the mere fact that James’s sentence was 25% above the top of James’s
guidelines range does not make it unreasonable. We have repeatedly stated that we
“give considerable deference to a district court’s decision about the appropriate length
of a sentence.” United States v. Pyles, 904 F.3d 422, 426 (6th Cir. 2018); accord United
States v. Lanning, 633 F.3d 469, 471–72 (6th Cir. 2011) (affirming an upward
variance to a 42-month sentence from a guidelines range of 18 to 24 months in light
of a defendant’s criminal history as a repeat offender); United States v. Lopez, 813 F.
App’x 200, 205 (6th Cir. 2020) (holding a 100% increase to be substantively
reasonable where the district court adequately addressed the § 3553(a) factors,
provided a “detailed rationale for the variance,” and imposed a sentence that was
otherwise substantively reasonable).
The court also did not err in varying because of “a policy-based disagreement
with the Guideline.” Perez-Rodriguez, 960 F.3d at 755 (citing Kimbrough, 552 U.S. at
109–11). The district court did not express a broad-based policy disagreement with
12
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
the guidelines; it took issue with the way the intervening legal change dramatically
reduced James’s sentence. The court explained that, in James’s case, this legal shift
caused the guidelines range to “not effectuate congressional policy under 28 U.S.C.
[§] 994(h) to punish [repeat] offenders at or near the statutory maximum.” (R. 1050,
Statement of Reasons, PageID 7691.)
We find no issue with the district court’s determination that the post-Havis
guidelines range did not properly represent the § 3553(a) factors when applied to the
defendant. Indeed, we have already rejected a similar argument from one of James’s
codefendants, albeit in an unpublished order. See United States v. Brown, No. 19-
2490, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 34479, at *8 (6th Cir. Oct. 30, 2020) (upholding this same
judge’s concerns, based on § 3553(a) factors, as “valid reasons for imposing an upward
variance” on James’s codefendant). Similarly, in Pyles, we held that the district court
had not abused its discretion by considering a career-offender enhancement that the
defendant would have received if some of his convictions were newer or had not been
reduced down. Pyles, 904 F.3d at 426. Like the present case, those statements did not
amount to an impermissible disagreement with the career-offender requirements; it
was merely a way to account for the defendant’s criminal history.
We will not second-guess the district court’s sentencing discretion here. See
Robinson, 892 F.3d at 216–17 (citing United States v. Kontrol, 554 F.3d 1089, 1093
(6th Cir. 2009)). We find no plain error in the procedural reasonableness of the district
court’s sentencing decision, nor do we find an abuse of discretion in the substantive
reasonableness of the sentence.
13
No. 19-2491, United States v. James
III. CONCLUSION
For these reasons, we AFFIRM the district court.
14