2009 Decisions

Opinions of the United

States Court of Appeals

for the Third Circuit

1-13-2009

USA v. Purnell

Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential

Docket No. 07-3257

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Recommended Citation

"USA v. Purnell" (2009). 2009 Decisions. Paper 2050.

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NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

_________

No.07-3257

_________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.,

 Appellee,

v.

CHANCE PURNELL. 

Appellant. 

___________________

Appeal from the United States District Court 

for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania 

Case No. 02-CR-00025-2

(Honorable James T. Giles) 

__________________

Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) 

on December 8, 2008

Before: McKEE, SMITH, and ROTH Circuit Judges

(Filed: January 13, 2009) 
2

OPINION OF THE COURT

McKEE, Circuit Judge

Chance Purnell appeals the 20 month sentence of imprisonment imposed by the

district court after Purnell violated the terms of his supervised release. For the reasons

that follow, we will affirm. 

Because we write primarily for the parties, it is not necessary to recite the facts or

history of this case except insofar as may be helpful to our brief discussion. The

guideline range for the two Grade C violations Purnell admitted was 8-14 months. The

maximum statutory penalty was two years. On appeal, Purnell argues that the district

court’s sentence of 20 months incarceration was unreasonable because it was wholly 

punitive, disregarded his need for treatment, and ignored the sentencing factors set forth

in Section 3553(a). We disagree. 

In Gall v. United States, 128 S.Ct. 58, Id at 597. The Supreme Court clarified that

we must first ensure that the district court “committed no significant procedural error,

such as ... failing to consider the 3553(a) factors...” Id. Absent any procedural error, we

must “consider the substantive reasonableness of the sentence imposed under the abuseof-discretion standard,” taking into account the totality of the circumstances. Id. 

 The district court is required to consider each of the § 3553(a) factors and “set

forth enough to satisfy the appellate court that he has considered the parties’ arguments
3

and has a reasoned basis for exercising his own legal decision making authority.” United

States v. Lessner, 498 F.3d 185, 203 (3d Cir. 2007) (quoting Rita v. United States, 127 S.

Ct. 2456, 2468 (2007)). 

The record shows that the district court considered Purnell’s criminal history and

the seriousness of the underlying violation. See. App. 29-30. Despite Purnell’s argument

to the contrary, the court also considered his need for drug treatment. Understandably,

the court discounted the value of treatment noting that Purnell had frustrated earlier

“trusting and generous” efforts at rehabilitation with “calculated deception.” Id. at 30. 

Purnell also argues that the trial court did not reasonably apply the 3553(a) factors

because the sentence exceeds the advisory Guideline range. That argument is frivolous. 

Given Purnell’s repeated infractions, and his repeated attempts to deceive his

probation officers, drug counselors and the court, as well as the number of times he failed

supervised release, the court acted quite reasonably in imposing a sentence that exceeded

the recommended range. 

II. 

For all of the above reasons, we will affirm the district court’s sentence.