Opinion ID: 2975706
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Garcia’s Sentence

Text: At sentencing, the Assistant United States Attorney, while acknowledging that the Guideline range was advisory, stated that the court “should pay consideration to the guidelines in this case to avoid disparity in sentencing. The Court has taken into account such things as – as the United States motion for a 5K downward departure in arriving at the appropriate guideline range. So that’s why United States v. Jesus Antonio Zazueta-Garcia Page 16 we would encourage the Court to sentence at the bottom . . . of that particular range and not go below that range.” (JA 118.) Garcia’s counsel argued that: since the plea agreement there have been other mitigating circumstances which I believe would cause for a lower sentence than the guideline range. And I believe the Court has heard all those reasons before, and there is no sense going into them again. . . . I believe that all of the information contained within the sentencing memorandum, the – the items which were discussed earlier, call for a sentence in mitigation of the range requested in the guidelines. (JA 118-19.) The Sentencing Memorandum to which Garcia’s counsel referred consisted of 1-1/4 pages plus a certificate of service and 34 pages of attachments. (JA 62-98.) The Memorandum summarized the kind of documentation which was attached. Included were documents affirming that he has no criminal record in Mexico, his place of residence in Mexico and 16 pages of letters written on behalf of Garcia, including English translations for each letter. Also included were Garcia’s college graduation certificate, his first communion paper, and several certificates that he received while incarcerated in the Grayson County Jail. Those certificates were awarded, among other things, for using his Spanish skills to help tutor inmates seeking a GED certificate for whom English was a second language and for classes he took at the jail while incarcerated, including a course with Alcoholics Anonymous. The Memorandum further indicated that he was married and had four children. Several of the attached items were photographs of Garcia interacting with various members of his family, including his children. After hearing from counsel, the court announced the following sentence: Court will now state the sentence. Court having granted the government’s motion for 5K1.1 and 18, United States Code, 3553 United States v. Jesus Antonio Zazueta-Garcia Page 17 departure, and having considered the guidelines in 18, United States Code, 3553(a) imposes the final sentence. It’s the judgment of the Court the defendant is committed to the custody of Bureau of Prisons for a term of 151 months as to each of counts 1 and 2 in the superseding indictment, which shall be served concurrently for a total term of 151 months imprisonment. .... [The] Court having granted the 5K1.1 and 18, United States Code, 3553(e) motion, and having considered 18, United States Code, 3553(a), and the advisory guidelines, which produce now a total offense level of 34, criminal history category I, the advisory guideline ranges are 151 months to 188 months . . . defendant has a relatively minor criminal history, and given the facts of the case the Court believes that the reasonable sentence of 151 months custody, followed by five years supervised release is reasonable and proper. The sentence is sufficient to meet the sentencing objectives of punishment, incapacitation and general deterrence, and satisfies the statutory provisions. (JA 119-120.) The court also, as part of its sentence, ordered drug aftercare as a condition of Defendant’s supervised release (JA 120), that Defendant not pay a fine because of a lack of financial resources (id.), and that Defendant be housed in the Tucson area in a facility close to his family (JA 121). We begin by noting that the imposition of sentence by the district judge in this case was clearly not a model pronouncement. Compare United States v. Morris, 448 F.3d 929, 934 (6th Cir. 2006) (Martin J., concurring) (stating that the hearing was “excellent” and that “[i]f district courts were to follow Judge Enslen’s example in this case, reversals would be exceedingly rare”). On the other hand, this case is not analogous to the circumstances in Johnson v. United States, 467 F.3d 559 (6th Cir. 2006), where we held that a district court sentence was not procedurally reasonable because United States v. Jesus Antonio Zazueta-Garcia Page 18 the court, while expressly acknowledging during sentencing that the Guidelines were advisory, only referred to the appropriateness of the sentence under the Guidelines, and did not state that it was considering any of the other factors under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Id. at 563.2 A review of the district court’s sentence in the instant case reveals that the court found that a sentence at the low end of the Guideline range of 151 months was appropriate, at least partly because of the fact that it had already granted the government’s motion for a downward departure. The court further noted that because of Defendant’s minor criminal history, and the facts of the case, the sentence was appropriate. The court then stated that “[t]he sentence is sufficient to meet the sentencing objectives of punishment, incapacitation and general deterrence . . . .” (JA 120.) After the sentence, Defendant’s counsel indicated that he had no objections to the sentence that he had not previously raised. As discussed earlier herein, counsel for Defendant had only spoken briefly at sentencing regarding other mitigating factors that could serve as a basis for a lower sentence. He mainly referred to his Sentencing Memorandum, which provided general background and family information regarding the Defendant. There were no specific and focused arguments made, as in Rita, for a sentence lower than the Guideline range. In Rita, the Defendant argued for a downward departure and/or for leniency based on “three sets of special circumstances: health, fear of retaliation in prison, and military record.” 127 S. Ct. at 2469. The Court affirmed the sentence, finding that: 2 We need not determine today whether Johnson survives Rita. See United States v. Robinson, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17952, at - (6th Cir. 2007). United States v. Jesus Antonio Zazueta-Garcia Page 19