[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FILED
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
________________________ ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
MAY 24, 2007
No. 07-10185 THOMAS K. KAHN
Non-Argument Calendar CLERK
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 06-00061-CR-A-N
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
LINDA HAMEL BACON,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Alabama
_________________________
(May 24, 2007)
Before TJOFLAT, BIRCH and DUBINA, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Linda Hamel Bacon appeals her prison sentence of 24 months for stealing or
receiving a check from the United States mail, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1708.
She contends that her sentence was “greater than necessary to achieve the
[sentencing] purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).” Her sentence was greater than
necessary, she says, because (1) it is inconsistent with our precedent affirming as
reasonable sentences at the low end of the guideline range; (2) her mitigating
evidence was more compelling than the mitigating evidence in similar cases; (3) in
imposing a sentence at the top of the guideline range, the district court showed that
it did not weigh the relevant sentencing factors; (4) the court’s finding that a
sentence of 24 months was necessary so she could take part in a federal drug
treatment program was misguided because she does not need further treatment.
Moreover, the court could not guarantee that the Bureau of Prisons will comply
with its recommendation, and even if the Bureau does, she would not be eligible
for the program because of her progress in state drug-treatment programs.
The § 3553(a) factors, which Bacon contends the district court misapplied,
include: (1) “the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and
characteristics of the defendant”; (2) whether the sentence is “sufficient, but not
greater than necessary, to comply with . . . 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
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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.” 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(1)-(2).
Bacon suggests that the court failed to do its duty under § 3553(a) because it
only considered drug treatment in fashioning her sentence. While it is true that
treatment for drug addiction played a prominent part in the court’s decision, the
court also stated that it had considered the Guideline sentence range and all of the §
3553(a) sentencing factors – in particular, the seriousness of her offense and the
need to protect the community. After doing this, the court concluded that a
sentence at the top of the Guideline sentence range, which was three years less than
the statutory maximum, was warranted.
We find no basis in the record of this case for concluding that Bacon’s
sentence is unreasonable because it was greater than necessary to achieve §
3553(a)’s purposes. Bacon’s sentence is therefore
AFFIRMED.
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