Case ID: f-appx_714/html/0364-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM: \n    ", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee v. Ivory Lee HARRIS, Defendant-Appellant
    No. 17-60096 Summary Calendar
    United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
    Filed December 6, 2017
    
      David Harrison Fulcher, Gregory Layne Kennedy, Esq., Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Mississippi, Jackson, MS, for Plaintiff-Ap-pellee
    Abby Webber Brumley, Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Thomas Creagher Turner, Jr., Esq., Federal Public Defender’s Office, Southern District of Mississippi, Jackson, MS, for Defendant-Appellant
    Before HIGGINBOTHAM, JONES, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
   PER CURIAM:

Ivory Lee Harris appeals the sentence imposed following his guilty plea conviction for conspiracy to commit fraud with immigration documents. The district court sentenced him above the guidelines range of 12 to 18 months of imprisonment to 42 months of imprisonment and threq years of supervised release. Harris contends that his sentence is substantively and procedural^ unreasonable and that the Government breached the plea agreement.

The district court gave a “thorough justification” for the variance in this case. United States v. McElwee, 646 F.3d 328, 344 (5th Cir. 2011). The district court cited the scope of the scheme, Harris’s status as a police officer, the importance of the false police reports created by Harris to the scheme, Harris’s use of an unwitting police officer and failure to vet the visa applicants, and the harm done to the City of Jackson and its police department. The extent of the variance, 24 months above the guidelines maximum of 18 months, is within the range of variances we have upheld. See id. at 345. Given the significant deference that is due to a district court’s consideration of the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, see Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007), and the district court’s reasons for its sentencing decision, Harris has not demonstrated that the sentence is substantively unreasonable, see McElwee, 646 F.3d at 344-45.

Harris waived by virtue of inadequate briefing his claim that the district court failed to adequately explain the sentence. See United States v. Scroggins, 599 F.3d 433, 446-67 (5th Cir. 2010); United States v. Reagan, 596 F.3d 251, 254 (5th Cir. 2010). Even if this claim is not waived, it fails under the abuse-of-discretion standard of review. See Gall, 552 U.S. at 51, 128 S.Ct. 586. The district court provided a “compelling” justification for the variance by citing the aggravating factors that it found warranted a sentence above the guidelines range. See United States v. Smith, 440 F.3d 704, 707 (5th Cir. 2006).

At sentencing, the Government complied with its promise in the plea agreement to “recommend that the Court impose a sentence within the lower 25% of the applicable range.” No reasonable reading of the plea agreement would prohibit the Government from arguing on appeal that the above-guidelines sentence is reasonable. See United States v. Cantu, 185 F.3d 298, 304 (5th Cir. 1999).

The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED. 
      
       Pursuant to 5th Cir. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4.