IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 16-11815

Summary Calendar

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee

v.

MARTHA JANE RODGERS, also known as Momma Frost,

Defendant-Appellant

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Texas

USDC No. 4:16-CR-132-12

Before STEWART, Chief Judge, and ELROD and HIGGINSON, Circuit 

Judges.

PER CURIAM:*

Martha Jane Rodgers appeals the 262-month, within-guidelines prison 

sentence that she received after she pleaded guilty, pursuant to a plea 

agreement, to conspiring to possess intending to distribute 50 grams or more 

of methamphetamine. 

 

* 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.

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

FILED

April 2, 2018

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

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No. 16-11815

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Two days before the sentencing hearing, Rodgers moved for leave to file 

a large amount of medical records. The court denied this motion on the basis 

that Rodgers failed to comply with the court’s status report order in numerous 

respects. Though Rodgers complains that the court should have considered the 

medical records, she does not explain how the court erred in determining that 

the she did not adequately comply with its directive. See Saqui v. Pride Cent. 

Am., LLC, 595 F.3d 206, 211 (5th Cir. 2010) (explaining that district courts 

“have broad discretion in managing their own dockets.”). Her failure to 

address the grounds for the court’s ruling “is the same as if [she] had not 

appealed [it].” Brinkmann v. Dallas County Deputy Sheriff Abner, 813 F.2d 

744, 748 (5th Cir. 1987). Accordingly, she has abandoned any challenge to the 

propriety of the ruling. See Yohey v. Collins, 985 F.2d 222, 224-25 (5th Cir.

1993).

The majority of Rodgers’s brief is devoted to arguing that the district 

court erred in denying her motion for a downward departure. However, we 

lack jurisdiction to review this issue because Rodgers does not argue, and it is 

not apparent from the record, that the district court denied the departure 

based on a mistaken belief that it lacked authority to depart. United States v. 

Jefferson, 751 F.3d 314, 322-23 (5th Cir. 2014). 

Finally, Rodgers argues that the sentence is substantively unreasonable 

because it does not sufficiently account for her age, history of drug addiction 

and mental illness, and low-level of involvement in the conspiracy and does not 

sufficiently comport with the goals of sentencing. Because Rodgers did not 

object to her sentence in the district court, our review is for plain error only. 

See United States v. Powell, 732 F.3d 361, 381 (5th Cir. 2013). The district 

court’s comments at sentencing establish that, not only did the court take into 

account Rodgers’s arguments, the factors Rodgers highlighted persuaded it to 

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No. 16-11815

3

impose a within-guidelines sentence rather than the above-guidelines sentence 

recommended in the presentence report. Rodgers’s arguments in this court 

amount to a disagreement with the already significant weight that the district 

court gave to these factors, essentially asking this court to reweigh them, which 

we will not do. See United States v. McElwee, 646 F.3d 328, 344-45 (5th Cir. 

2011). Rodgers has not shown that, in imposing a within-guidelines sentence, 

the district court did not account for a factor that should have received 

significant weight, gave significant weight to an irrelevant or improper factor, 

or committed a clear error of judgment in balancing sentencing factors. See 

Jenkins, 712 F.3d at 214. Accordingly, she has not overcome the presumption 

that her within-guidelines sentence is reasonable. See id.

The district court’s judgment is AFFIRMED.

 Case: 16-11815 Document: 00514409937 Page: 3 Date Filed: 04/02/2018