NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION

File Name: 22a0085n.06

No. 21-1427

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

TYLER MATTHEW STACY,

Defendant-Appellant.

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ON APPEAL FROM THE 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT 

COURT FOR THE WESTERN 

DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

Before: SILER, LARSEN, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

LARSEN, Circuit Judge. Tyler Stacy pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a 

firearm. The district court sentenced him to 37 months in prison and ordered the sentence to run 

consecutive to a state-court sentence he was serving. Stacy argues that the choice to impose a 

consecutive sentence was unreasonable. We disagree and AFFIRM.

I.

Stacy pleaded guilty in state court to possessing drugs. When he later violated his 

probation, the state court sentenced him to an indeterminate sentence of 24 months to 10 years. 

The probation violation led to additional trouble; during Stacy’s arrest for that offense, law 

enforcement found a firearm in his possession. A federal grand jury then indicted him on one 

count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Stacy pleaded guilty. The district court sentenced 

him to a term of 37 months’ imprisonment, to run consecutive to his state-court sentence. Stacy 

appealed.
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II.

Stacy challenges the procedural and substantive reasonableness of his sentence. Normally, 

we review both claims for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Parrish, 915 F.3d 1043, 1047

(6th Cir. 2019). But Stacy admits that he did not bring his claim of procedural error to the district 

court’s attention, so we review that claim for plain error. See id. at 1048.

Procedural Reasonableness. To craft a procedurally reasonable sentence, the court must

“properly calculate the guidelines range, treat that range as advisory, consider the sentencing 

factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), refrain from considering impermissible factors, select the sentence 

based on facts that are not clearly erroneous, and adequately explain why it chose the sentence.” 

United States v. Rayyan, 885 F.3d 436, 440 (6th Cir. 2018). Stacy argues that his sentence is 

procedurally unreasonable because the district court failed to adequately explain why it imposed a 

consecutive sentence.

A district court’s decision to run a federal sentence consecutive to an undischarged term of 

state imprisonment is guided by U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3. Section 5G1.3(d) provides that a federal 

sentence “may be imposed to run concurrently, partially concurrently, or consecutively to the prior 

undischarged term of imprisonment to achieve a reasonable punishment for the instant offense.” 

Application Note 4(A) to § 5G1.3 offersthe following factors for a court to consider when deciding

whether to run state and federal sentences consecutively: “(1) the § 3553(a) factors; (2) the type 

and length of the prior undischarged sentence; (3) the time served and likely to be served on the 

undischarged sentence; (4) the procedural posture of the undischarged sentence (whether it was 

imposed in state or federal court and when it was imposed); and (5) any other relevant 

circumstance.” United States v. Potts, 947 F.3d 357, 369 (6th Cir. 2020) (citing U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3 

cmt. n.4(A)). 
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Stacy faults the district court for not addressing the § 5G1.3 factors, either explicitly or 

implicitly. According to Stacy, “[t]he record is devoid of any information indicating the district 

court considered any of the[] factors in deciding to order the federal sentence to run consecutively.” 

Appellant Br. at 16. We disagree.

We will not reverse a district court for failing to explicitly reference the § 5G1.3 factors

when imposing a consecutive sentence. See Potts, 947 F.3d at 369. So long as it is “generally 

clear” from “the totality of the record” that the court followed the guidance provided by 

Application Note 4(A), we will not find an abuse of discretion (let alone plain error). Id. (citation 

omitted); see also United States v. Harmon, 607 F.3d 233, 239 (6th Cir. 2010).

Here, the district court did not explicitly reference the § 5G1.3 factors. But the record

nonetheless indicates that the court sufficiently considered them. The court engaged in a lengthy 

discussion of the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors (§ 5G1.3 factor 1). It determined that nearly all the 

factors weighed in favor of a longer sentence. Specifically, the court believed Stacy’s lengthy 

criminal history and his repeated willingness to violate probation and parole and to skirt court 

orders all warranted a longer sentence. The court also inquired into the type and length of Stacy’s 

state-court sentence (§ 5G1.3 factors 2 and 4). Counsel indicated on the record that a Michigan 

court had sentenced Stacy to 24 to 120 months. As for the time served and likely to be served

(§ 5G1.3 factor 3), Stacy told the court that he likely would be eligible for parole the week of his 

federal sentencing. The district court knew that if it imposed a consecutive sentence, it would 

begin to run once the Michigan Department of Corrections released Stacy. Given the court’s 

familiarity with the Michigan Department of Corrections and the indeterminate sentence imposed, 

the court was skeptical that Stacy would serve much additional time on his state-court sentence. 

The court thus thought that the sentence imposed was “not much of a sentence as a result of the 
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violation.” So, although the district court did not expressly identify the § 5G1.3 factors, it is 

“generally clear” from the record that the court considered them when imposing a consecutive 

sentence. See Potts, 947 F.3d at 369 (citation omitted). That is all we ask. Id.; Harmon, 607 F.3d 

at 239. Stacy has not shown that the district court committed error, let alone plain error. 

Substantive Reasonableness. Stacy’s substantive reasonableness claim merely recasts his 

procedural reasonableness claim. He incorporates his procedural reasonableness arguments by 

reference and says that the district court failed to consider the relevant sentencing factors when 

imposing the consecutive sentence. The point of substantive reasonableness, however, “is not that 

the district court failed to consider a factor or considered an inappropriate factor; that’s the job of 

procedural unreasonableness.” Rayyan, 885 F.3d at 442. Substantive reasonableness asks whether 

a “sentence is too long (if a defendant appeals).” Id. It is “a complaint that the court placed too 

much weight on some of the § 3553(a) factors and too little on others in sentencing the individual.” 

Id. Stacy does not make that argument. Stacy’s arguments failed under the procedural

reasonableness label, and they fare no better under a different name. 

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We AFFIRM.