Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-07-02509/USCOURTS-ca8-07-02509-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Thomas Michael Martin
Appellant
United States
Appellee

Document Text:

1

The Honorable Linda R. Reade, Chief Judge, United States District Court for

the Northern District of Iowa.

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 07-2509

___________

United States of America, *

*

Appellee, *

*

v. * Appeal from the United States

* District Court for the

Thomas Michael Martin, * Northern District of Iowa.

*

Appellant. * [UNPUBLISHED]

___________

Submitted: May 15, 2008

Filed: May 19, 2008

___________

Before WOLLMAN, RILEY, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

___________

PER CURIAM.

Thomas Michael Martin challenges the within-Guidelines-range prison sentence

the district court1

 imposed after he pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing and

attempting to possess child pornography after a prior conviction for a sexual-abuse

crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B), (b)(2). The court sentenced Martin

to consecutive sentences of 172 months on the first count and 120 months on the

second count, for a total of 292 months in prison. Martin argues that his prison

sentence is unreasonable because (1) his prior conviction for improper contact with

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a child resulted in an unduly harsh punishment, especially given his age; (2) the court

may have believed a higher “career offender-type” sentence was warranted based

upon some of his past convictions; and (3) his total sentence on both counts of

conviction should have been limited by the 20-year statutory maximum because his

criminal conduct was “more in the nature of one ongoing wrong.”

We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing

Martin at the bottom of his undisputed advisory Guidelines range. Nothing in the

record indicates the court overlooked a relevant factor, gave significant weight to an

improper factor, or committed a clear error of judgment in weighing appropriate

factors. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) (factors to consider in imposing sentence); United

States v. Boss, 493 F.3d 986, 987 (8th Cir. 2007) (abuse-of-discretion standard of

review); United States v. Haack, 403 F.3d 997, 1003-04 (8th. Cir. 2005) (listing

circumstances that may constitute abuse of discretion); see also Rita v. United States,

127 S. Ct. 2456, 2462-69 (2007) (approving appellate presumption of reasonableness

for sentences within Guidelines range). Further, nothing in the record indicates the

court treated Martin as a career offender. Rather, the court properly considered

Martin’s past convictions in determining a reasonable sentence. See 18 U.S.C.

§ 3553(a)(1) (directing court to consider history and characteristics of defendant).

Finally, there is no merit to Martin’s argument that the court should have treated his

offenses as one crime for sentencing purposes. He pleaded guilty to two separate

child-pornography counts and stipulated to possessing multiple disks containing

pornographic images of children. See United States v. Planck, 493 F.3d 501, 503-05

(5th Cir. 2007) (affirming conviction on three separate counts of possessing child

pornography under § 2252A(b)(5)(B) where images were found in three different

places: desktop computer, laptop computer, and diskettes); Swepston v. United States,

289 F.2d 166, 168 (8th Cir. 1961) (right to impose consecutive sentences for separate

counts is inherent in federal courts); see also U.S.S.G. § 5G1.2(d) (if sentence

imposed on count carrying highest statutory maximum is less than total punishment,

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sentence imposed on other counts shall run consecutively to extent necessary to

produce combined sentence equal to total punishment).

Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.

______________________________

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