Opinion ID: 169691
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Substantive R easonableness

Text: M r. Ayala-Romero also argues that his sentence is substantively unreasonable because 1) the district court did not take into account the disparity -4- in sentencing caused by Kansas’s lack of a fast-track program, and (again) 2) the district court gave too much weight to the Sentencing Guidelines. “A substantively reasonable sentence ultimately reflects the gravity of the crime and the § 3553(a) factors as applied to the case.” Atencio, 476 F.3d at 1102. W e have reviewed the record and conclude that the sentence reflects both the gravity of the crime and the § 3553(a) factors. In United States v. M artinez-Trujillo, 468 F.3d 1266 (10th Cir. 2006), this Court rejected the argument that the sentencing disparity caused by regional fasttrack sentencing programs violated 18 U.S.C. § 3553. Id. at 1268 (“W e cannot say that a disparity is ‘unwarranted’ within the meaning of § 3553(a)(6) when the disparity was specifically authorized by Congress in the PROTECT Act.”). M r. Ayala-Romero provides no persuasive arguments to change our recent precedent. M r. Ayala-Romero also asserts that the sentence is substantively unreasonable because the district court gave too much weight to the Sentencing Guidelines. For the same reasons discussed above, we find that the district court properly considered both the Sentencing Guidelines and the § 3553(a) factors. As an appellate court, we do not review sentences de novo, but only for “unreasonableness,” United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 261 (2005), which the Supreme Court has equated with “abuse of discretion.” Rita v. United States, 127 S. Ct. 2456, 2470-71 (2007). M r. Ayala-Romero provides no reason to think that -5- the district court’s sentence was an abuse of discretion, or unreasonable in light of the statutory sentencing factors. The judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas is AFFIRM ED. Entered for the Court, M ichael W . M cConnell