[DO NOT PUBLISH]

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 23-10414

Non-Argument Calendar

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

JADDIER THOMAS SANCHEZ, 

Defendant- Appellant.

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Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Florida

D.C. Docket No. 0:21-cr-60051-RAR-1

____________________

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2 Opinion of the Court 23-10414

Before GRANT, BRASHER, and ABUDU, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Jaddier Sanchez appeals his 300-months’ imprisonment for 

kidnapping three people with a firearm. Because we do not find 

this sentence substantively unreasonable, we affirm. 

I.

Jaddier Sanchez has a long and well-documented history of 

violence and violating the law. He has pleaded guilty and received 

jail time for aggravated stalking, retail theft, driving with a 

suspended license, and violating an injunction for protection 

against domestic violence. And he has been previously convicted 

of robbery, for which he served a 15-year prison sentence.1 

About six months after being released from custody for his 

robbery conviction, Sanchez committed the present offenses. He

drove to his ex-girlfriend’s house in the middle of the night and 

kidnapped her and her parents at gunpoint. He demanded money 

from the parents and forced all three into a truck, threatening them 

multiple times with his firearm. He later stopped, forced the 

parents out of the car, tied them up, and left them on the side of 

the road. He then drove his ex-girlfriend from Florida to northern 

Virginia, where he was eventually arrested. 

1 While in prison for robbery, Sanchez received 65 disciplinary actions against 

him for various infractions, both violent and nonviolent. 

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23-10414 Opinion of the Court 3

Sanchez pleaded guilty to three counts of kidnapping and 

one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a 

convicted felon. The presentencing investigation report calculated 

a Guidelines range of 168- to 210-months’ imprisonment, but it 

also recognized that Sanchez’s extensive criminal history “may 

warrant departure and/or variance.” The government moved for 

upward variance and/or departure, and the district court sentenced 

Sanchez to 300-months’ imprisonment, 90 months more than the 

recommended Guidelines range. Sanchez appeals, arguing that his

sentence is substantively unreasonable. 

II.

We will not consider a sentence substantively unreasonable 

unless “we are left with the definite and firm conviction that the 

district court committed a clear error of judgment in weighing the 

18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors” to arrive at a sentence outside the 

Guidelines range. United States v. Riley, 995 F.3d 1272, 1278 (11th 

Cir. 2021) (alteration adopted) (quotation omitted). These factors 

include “the nature of the circumstances of the offense and the 

history and characteristics of the defendant.” 18 U.S.C. 

§ 3553(a)(1). Courts may also consider the need for the sentence 

“‘to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for 

the law,’ ‘to provide just punishment for the offense,’ ‘to afford 

adequate deterrence to criminal conduct,’ and ‘to protect the 

public from further crimes of the defendant.’” Riley, 995 F.3d at 

1278–79 (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)). District courts have 

discretion in weighing these factors, and that discretion is 

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4 Opinion of the Court 23-10414

“particularly pronounced when it comes to weighing criminal 

history.” Id. at 1279.

The district court’s decision in this case to impose a sentence 

90 months over the Guidelines range was not substantively 

unreasonable. The court considered Sanchez’s present crime and 

criminal history to conclude that he is a violent, repeat offender. It 

found that Sanchez’s criminal history was “woefully 

underrepresented” in the Guidelines calculation, and that “a 

stronger sentence is necessary to protect the public from his future 

crimes.” These are all factors that we have said can be used to grant 

a sentence above the Guidelines range, and we do not find that the 

district court gave any unreasonable weight to these factors. See id. 

at 1278–81. We AFFIRM. 

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