Opinion ID: 1434186
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reasonableness of Young's Sentence

Text: In the wake of the Supreme Court's watershed decision in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), a district court has an obligation to impose a sentence that is reasonable in light of the sentencing criteria set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). See United States v. Dean, 414 F.3d 725, 730-31 (7th Cir.2005); see also Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 49-50, 128 S.Ct. 586, 596-97, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007). Although it is no longer bound by the Sentencing Guidelines, the court still must consult the Guidelines in arriving at a reasonable sentence, see Kimbrough v. United States, 552 U.S. 85, 108, 128 S.Ct. 558, 574, 169 L.Ed.2d 481 (2007) (district courts must treat the Guidelines as `the starting point and the initial benchmark') (quoting Gall, 552 U.S. at 49, 128 S.Ct. at 596), and when the court selects a sentence that falls within the properly-calculated Guidelines range, we shall presume that sentence is reasonable. United States v. Mykytiuk, 415 F.3d 606, 608 (7th Cir. 2005); see Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338, 127 S.Ct. 2456, 168 L.Ed.2d 203 (2007) But the defendant must be given an opportunity to draw the judge's attention to any factor listed in section 3553(a) that might warrant a sentence different from the guidelines sentence, for it is possible for such a variant sentence to be reasonable and thus within the sentencing judge's discretion under the new regime in which the guidelines, being advisory, can be trumped by section 3553(a), which as we have stressed is mandatory. Dean, 414 F.3d at 730-31. At oral argument, Young's counsel asserted that Young received a pre- Booker sentence in a post- Booker world. Young's premise is not that the district court mistakenly treated the Guidelines as binding, but rather that the court, in neglecting to explicitly address the mitigating factors that her counsel had cited in support of a below-Guidelines sentence, did not fully comply with its obligation to determine a reasonable sentence in view of section 3553(a)'s broad sentencing criteria. See United States v. Villegas-Miranda, 579 F.3d 798, 801-02 (7th Cir.2009). This would be true as to any principal arguments that were not so weak as to not merit discussion, id. (quoting United States v. Cunningham, 429 F.3d 673, 679 (7th Cir.2005)), or in other words, arguments that were substantial, United States v. Martinez, supra, 520 F.3d at 753. But in addition to arguments that clearly lack merit, see, e.g., United States v. Miranda, 505 F.3d 785, 792 (7th Cir.2007) (quoting Cunningham, 429 F.3d at 678), a sentencing judge may reject without discussion stock arguments that are made as a matter of routine. Martinez, 520 F.3d at 753. A number of Young's arguments appear to fall into the latter category: for example, that she is a divorced mother of two, had no prior criminal history, and was restricted to home and work prior to trial. See id. More to the point, Young has not attempted to explain which of her arguments, if any, had substantial merit and why, or even to identify which of them were her principal arguments. See Villegas-Miranda, 579 F.3d at 801 (sentencing court need only respond to defendant's principal arguments, not every pithy argument she might raise). In fact, Young has not individually addressed any of the mitigating factors she raised below; she simply asserts that none of them was frivolous, leaving it to us to sort through them all to determine which might have sufficient merit to demand the district court's explicit attention. That is not our role. See Mykytiuk, 415 F.3d at 608 (defendant can rebut presumption of reasonableness attending within-Guidelines sentence only by showing sentence is unreasonable when measured against section 3553(a) factors). We add that none of the factors she argued to the district court strikes us as sufficiently meritorious on its face to have demanded explicit comment by the court. The district court complied with its obligations in sentencing Young. The court referenced the section 3553(a) factors, see United States v. Williams, 425 F.3d 478, 480 (7th Cir.2005) (judge need not make findings as to each of statutory factors so long as record indicates it gave them meaningful consideration), and indicated both that it had considered the arguments advanced by Young's counsel and that it, had, in fact, been persuaded to reduce the sentence from the top to the bottom of the Guidelines range. The court articulated a rationale for not imposing a sentence below the range, as Young had asked, explaining that it viewed the Guidelines as light with respect to Young's offense and that Young had received a number of breaks in the manner in which the Guidelines had been applied. [1] See United States v. Laufle, 433 F.3d 981, 987 (7th Cir.2006) (A concise statement of the factors that caused the judge to arrive at a particular sentence, consistent with section 3553(a), will normally suffice.); see also Rita, 551 U.S. at 356, 127 S.Ct. at 2468 (The sentencing judge should set forth enough to satisfy the appellate court that he has considered the parties' arguments and has a reasoned basis for exercising his own legal decisionmaking authority.). The Guidelines range was properly calculated, and the sentence imposed fell within that range. As such, it is presumptively reasonable, and Young has not rebutted that presumption.