Opinion ID: 1206802
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Reasonableness Challenge at Issue

Text: I do not understand any member of the en banc court to suggest that, absent procedural error, a 24-month sentence for illegally trafficking in 16 guns would be substantively unreasonable in this case. Thus, the singular focus of this appeal is procedural error, specifically, the district court's justification for the challenged sentence and any fact finding underlying that justification. [5] At the outset, I suggest that if the district court had stated simply, and without referencing any local circumstances, that upon careful consideration of the § 3553(a) factors, including the applicable Guidelines range, it concluded that a 24-month sentence was necessary (a) to reflect the seriousness of a crime that, after all, involves illegal trafficking in instruments that can take a human life; and (b) to ensure the adequate deterrence of such trafficking, we would not identify any procedural error in that justification. To demand more justification (or factual support) for such a modest variance would effectively challenge the district court's constitutionally mandated authority to weigh § 3553(a) factors for itself and would come close to presuming the unreasonableness of a non-Guidelines sentence. See Gall v. United States, 128 S.Ct. at 597. [6] The district court did not, however, presume to justify its sentence by assessing the seriousness of gun trafficking offenses generally. Rather, it more modestly considered the seriousness of Cavera's crime by reference to the community for which the illegal guns were intended: New York City. [7] After United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), a district court's consideration of local circumstances in assessing § 3553(a) factors cannot, by itself, manifest procedural error. This conclusion is compelled by our holding today that we will not categorically proscribe any factor `concerning the background, character, and conduct' of the defendant, with the exception of invidious factors. Ante at 190-91 (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3661). Accordingly, the only possible procedural challenge in this case relates to the factual basis for the district court's finding that gun smuggling to New York City has the potential to create a substantially greater degree of harm than in the mine-run case. United States v. Lucania, 379 F.Supp.2d at 295. See post at 212 (Straub.J., dissenting) (concluding that neither record data nor reasonably available statistics support conclusion that New York City's population density makes Cavera's offense more serious here than in the nation generally); post at 220 (Sotomayor, J., dissenting) (stating that district court's analysis and data are insufficient to support its conclusion that defendant-appellant deserved a severer sentence because firearms trafficking (1) is a more serious crime in densely populated areas....).