Opinion ID: 2978017
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Manjate’s Sentence

Text: Defendant Manjate received a prison sentence of 224 months. He contends the sentence is procedurally unreasonable because the district court improperly calculated the applicable advisory Guidelines range to be 188 to 235 months based on erroneous drug quantity determinations. As explained above, Manjate has failed to demonstrate any error in the district court’s drug quantity determinations. It follows that his procedural unreasonableness challenge is meritless. Manjate also contends his sentence is substantively unreasonable because the district court, in considering the § 3553(a) factors, placed inordinate weight on his lack of remorse and on the social ills that flow from the illegal drug trade generally. Manjate maintains that a prison sentence at the low end of the applicable advisory Guidelines range, rather than in the upper half, would, in the words of the parsimony clause, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), be “sufficient, but not greater than necessary” to comply with the purposes of sentencing. Manjate’s sentence is within the properly calculated advisory Guidelines range and is therefore subject to a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness. Vonner, 516 F.3d at 389. This presumption is not rebutted by a defendant’s mere argument that a shorter prison sentence would be sufficient. United States v. Ward, 506 F.3d 468, 478-79 (6th Cir. 2007); United States v. Dexta, 470 F.3d 612, 616 (6th Cir. 2006). Nor are we persuaded, upon review of the sentencing record, that the district court improperly weighed such factors as Manjate’s lack of remorse and the destructive consequences of drug trafficking on individual lives, families, and whole communities. Such considerations come squarely within the ambit of such § 3553(a) factors as “the nature and - 17 - Nos. 07-1652, 07-1711 United States v. Manjate and Lewis circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the defendant;” as well as the need for the sentence imposed “to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment for the offense,” “to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct,” and “to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant.” Accordingly, we reject Manjate’s substantive unreasonableness challenge.