Opinion ID: 2756539
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Burnett’s Within-Guideline Sentence Does

Text: Not Violate the Eighth Amendment. Finally, Burnett argues that his within-guideline-range sentence of 288 months imprisonment amounts to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Because he did not make his Eighth Amendment challenge in the District Court, we review the argument on a plain error basis. Miknevich, 638 F.3d at 185. We determine that Burnett’s sentence is proportional to his crimes of conviction and does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court has explained that the “Eighth Amendment, which forbids cruel and unusual punishments, contains a narrow proportionality principle that applies to noncapital sentences.” Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11, 20, 123 S.Ct. 1179, 1185 (2003) (citations omitted). A court must consider three proportionality factors when evaluating Eighth Amendment challenges: (1) the gravity of the offense and the harshness of the penalty; (2) the sentences imposed on other criminals in the same jurisdiction; and (3) the sentences imposed for commission of the same crime in other jurisdictions. Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277, 290-92, 103 S.Ct. 3001, 3010 (1983). In conducting this analysis, a court grants substantial deference to legislative decisions regarding punishments for crimes. United States v. Rosenberg, 806 F.2d 1169, 1175 (3d Cir. 1986); Miknevich, 638 F.3d at 186 (“Generally, a sentence within the limits imposed by statute is neither excessive nor cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment . . . because we accord substantial deference to Congress, as it possesses broad 23 authority to determine the types and limits of punishments for crimes.”). The first factor acts as a gateway prong to the proportionality inquiry. The Eighth Amendment, after all, only forbids sentences that are “grossly disproportionate” for a conviction for the crime involved. If the defendant fails to demonstrate a gross imbalance between the crime and the sentence, a court’s analysis of an Eighth Amendment challenge is at an end. Successful proportionality challenges in noncapital cases are “exceedingly rare.” Ewing, 538 U.S. at 21, 123 S.Ct. at 1185 (quoting Rummel v. Estelle, 445 U.S. 263, 272, 100 S.Ct. 1133, 1138 (1980)). Here, the record evidences that there is proportionality between Burnett’s crime and sentence. During the robbery, Burnett terrorized two victims with a gun, forced them to the floor, and bound them with plastic ties. When one of the victims tried to escape, Burnett clubbed him, causing head wounds that required seven surgical staples to close. Burnett threatened the victim with future violence, taking one of the victim’s driver’s license from his wallet and warning the victim that he knew where he lived. The other victim begged Burnett not to kill her. As the District Court noted, both victims were subjected to “sustained terror,” and feared they would not survive the robbery. App. 820. As the District Court also noted, Burnett’s conduct was not personally aberrant behavior. Burnett has additional convictions for a robbery, one in which he wielded an icepick, 24 another performed at gunpoint. He was convicted for an assault during which he shot his victim in the knee. Burnett is a recidivist. Our analysis of the PSR reveals that when Burnett committed his crimes in this case, he was under the supervision of both the Pennsylvania Parole Board and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in two different cases, and had been out of prison only for 31 days when he committed this offense. When the police caught him for the Poland Jewelers robbery, he threatened them with a box cutter, triggering an altercation that resulted in him being shot in the chest. Thus, we determine that the sentence the District Court imposed of 24 years was both reasonable and appropriate.4 4 Notably, Burnett makes no effort to demonstrate that his sentence is “grossly disproportionate” to his crime, but argues only that this sentence is cruel and unusual, as applied to him, claiming that at his age it is effectively a “life sentence.” Appellant’s br. 12-13. Lengthy sentences up to and including life in prison have been upheld when proportionate to the crime. See Rummel, 445 U.S. at 284-85, 100 S.Ct. at 1135 (rejecting an Eighth Amendment challenge to a mandatory life sentence imposed under a state recidivist statute where the triggering crime was the defendant’s conviction of obtaining $120 by false pretenses, while the earlier predicate crimes were an $80 fraudulent use of a credit card, and the passing of a $28 forged check); see also United States v. Walker, 473 F.3d 71, 83 (3d Cir. 2007) (rejecting an Eighth Amendment challenge to a 55year mandatory consecutive sentence imposed under Section 924(c) because the “harshness” of the sentence, balanced against 25 Burnett faced an aggregate mandatory minimum prison term of at least 22 years, an effective guideline range of up to 319 months, and a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison. Though the District Court exceeded the mandatory minimum term, it sentenced Burnett within the guideline range that applies to like offenders, well below the statutory maximum penalty. The fact that the sentence fell within the advisory guideline range is in and of itself strongly suggestive of proportionality. See, e.g., United States v. Abdulmutallab, 739 F.3d 891, 907 (6th Cir. 2014) (an Eighth Amendment challenge must fail if a defendant receives a sentence within the guideline range when the guideline range contemplates the gravity of the offense); United States v. Cardenas-Alvarez, 987 F.2d 1129, 1134 (5th Cir. 1993) (finding that the Guidelines are a “convincing objective indicator of proportionality”). Burnett’s 288-month sentence is measured and appropriate under the circumstances, and certainly was not grossly disproportionate to the crime. Burnett has failed to demonstrate that his sentence violated the Eighth Amendment, and has failed to demonstrate plain error, or any error at all, in this regard. We will affirm the District Court’s judgment of conviction and sentence.