Court Opinion

ID: 9896518
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-13 16:02:08.603205+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:06.223324
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 22-13947    Document: 27-1     Date Filed: 11/13/2023   Page: 1 of 8

                                                  [DO NOT PUBLISH]
                                   In the
                United States Court of Appeals
                        For the Eleventh Circuit

                          ____________________

                                No. 22-13947
                          Non-Argument Calendar
                          ____________________

       UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                      Plaintiﬀ-Appellee,
       versus
       CHRISTOPHER SEALS,

                                                  Defendant-Appellant.

                          ____________________

                 Appeal from the United States District Court
                    for the Southern District of Alabama
                   D.C. Docket No. 1:09-cr-00077-CG-B-2
                          ____________________
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       2                      Opinion of the Court                  22-13947

       Before ROSENBAUM, LUCK, and ABUDU, Circuit Judges.
       PER CURIAM:
              Christopher Seals appeals his sentence of 37 months’ impris-
       onment imposed upon revocation of his supervised release. Seals
       argues that the district court abused its discretion by failing to con-
       sider the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, failing to explain its sentence,
       and giving undue weight to the conduct underlying the revocation
       violations. After careful review, we aﬃrm.
                                         I.
              In 2010, Seals was sentenced to a total of 180 months in
       prison for traﬃcking cocaine base and using a gun in furtherance
       of that crime. His sentence was reduced to 120 months in 2012. In
       June 2018, he was released from custody and began serving a ﬁve-
       year term of supervised release.
               In 2022, Seals’s probation oﬃcer ﬁled three successive peti-
       tions to revoke his supervised release for committing new crimes,
       possessing and distributing controlled substances, and leaving the
       judicial district without permission. According to the petitions,
       Seals was arrested for and charged with burglary in January 2022.
       Then, in March 2022, after his release on bond, he was charged with
       a federal drug conspiracy oﬀense, see 21 U.S.C. § 846, for delivering
       a backpack containing just over 100 grams of cocaine to a conﬁden-
       tial informant. After a warrant issued for his arrest, Seals was ob-
       served driving into Alabama from Georgia, and he ﬂed an at-
       tempted traﬃc stop. During the ensuing pursuit, which reached
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       22-13947               Opinion of the Court                        3

       speeds up to 110 miles per hour and involved the use of spike strips,
       Seals discarded a bag containing cocaine. Based on this conduct,
       which involved a Grade A violation, the probation oﬃcer calcu-
       lated a guideline range of 30 to 37 months.
               Before the ﬁnal revocation hearing, Seals ﬁled a notice waiv-
       ing his right to a revocation hearing and admitting to the violations
       set forth in the probation oﬃcer’s petitions. Accordingly, the dis-
       trict court revoked Seals’s supervised release and proceeded di-
       rectly to sentencing.
              The parties oﬀered their views on an appropriate revocation
       sentence. Seals asked for a term of years with no supervision to
       follow, noting that he would be on supervised release for the un-
       derlying § 846 drug oﬀense. The government requested a sentence
       of 37 months, to run consecutively to the 60-month prison sen-
       tence the court imposed for the § 846 oﬀense.
              Having “read through the entire ﬁle,” the district court
       found that a sentence at the high end of the guideline range was
       appropriate based on Seals’s conduct while on supervision. The
       court said it had considered the “chapter seven provisions” and
       found them “appropriate in this matter.” The court imposed a rev-
       ocation prison sentence of 37 months, with no supervision to fol-
       low, to run consecutively to the 60-month drug sentence.
             Seals objected to the consecutive nature of the sentence as
       “excessive,” noting that the revocation “conduct is the same as
       [drug] charge and that the [drug] charge also considered in the
       PS[R] that Mr. Seals was on supervised release.” Defense counsel
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       4                       Opinion of the Court                  22-13947

       noted that, in his understanding, Seals’s agreement with the gov-
       ernment called for a total term in custody of no more than 60
       months for the underlying conduct. The district court overruled
       the objection, stating, “[B]ased on his conduct, I ﬁnd that it is not
       excessive and it is appropriate in this case, and so it will be run con-
       secutively.”
               Soon after the hearing adjourned, the government notiﬁed
       the district court and defense counsel that it needed to change its
       sentencing recommendation to match Seals’s position. It advised
       that it had agreed to recommend a total prison term of 60 months
       for the drug and revocation cases.
               The district court maintained its sentence. The court stated
       that it would have imposed the same sentence “regardless” of the
       government’s recommendation, because Seals’s “conduct deserves
       the consecutive sentence on the revocation of his supervised re-
       lease.” Since Seals had left the courtroom, the court called him
       back in to inform him of what had happened, and to explain that it
       was imposing the same sentence despite the government’s change
       in recommendation. After Seals personally addressed the court,
       the hearing concluded. This appeal followed.
                                         II.
              In reviewing a sentence, we first ensure that the district
       court committed “no significant procedural error,” such as “failing
       to consider the § 3553(a) factors” or “failing to adequately explain
       the chosen sentence.” Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007).
       Assuming the sentence is procedurally sound, we consider its
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       22-13947                Opinion of the Court                           5

       substantive reasonableness under the totality of the circumstances.
       Id. Seals bears “the burden of demonstrating that the sentence is
       unreasonable, considering the complete record, the § 3553(a) fac-
       tors, and the substantial deference we give sentencing courts.”
       United States v. Osorto, 995 F.3d 801, 822 (11th Cir. 2021).
              District courts are authorized to “revoke a term of super-
       vised release” and impose a prison sentence when a defendant vio-
       lates a condition of supervised release. 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3). A
       sentence imposed upon revocation must be “sufficient, but not
       greater than necessary,” to comply with the sentencing goals of de-
       terrence, protection of the public, and rehabilitation of the defend-
       ant. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(c) (requiring district courts to “consider[]
       the factors set forth in [18 U.S.C. §] 3553(a)(1), (a)(2)(B), (a)(2)(C),
       (a)(2)(D), (a)(4), (a)(5), (a)(6), and (a)(7)”). The court must also con-
       sider the nature and circumstances of the violation, the history and
       characteristics of the defendant, and the sentencing guidelines,
       among other factors. See id.
               Although the district court must consider the § 3553(a) fac-
       tors, it’s “not required to explicitly address each of the § 3553(a)
       factors or all of the mitigating evidence,” so long as the record re-
       flects its consideration of these factors. United States v. Taylor, 997
       F.3d 1348, 1354 (11th Cir. 2021); United States v. Cabezas-Montano,
       949 F.3d 567, 609 (11th Cir. 2020). The court’s “explanation of a
       sentence may be brief and may derive substance from the context
       of the record, the defendant’s history and characteristics, and the
       parties’ arguments.” United States v. Hamilton, 66 F.4th 1267, 1275
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       6                      Opinion of the Court                  22-13947

       (11th Cir. 2023). The court must “set forth enough to satisfy the
       appellate court that [it] has considered the parties’ arguments and
       has a reasoned basis for exercising [its] own legal decisionmaking
       authority.” Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338, 356 (2007).
               “The decision about how much weight to assign a particular
       sentencing factor is committed to the sound discretion of the dis-
       trict court.” United States v. Rosales-Bruno, 789 F.3d 1249, 1254 (11th
       Cir. 2015) (quotation marks omitted). Nevertheless, the district
       court abuses it discretion when it “(1) fails to afford consideration
       to relevant factors that were due significant weight, (2) gives signif-
       icant weight to an improper or irrelevant factor, or (3) commits a
       clear error of judgment in considering the proper factors.” United
       States v. Irey, 612 F.3d 1160, 1189 (11th Cir. 2010) (en banc).
               Chapter Seven of the Sentencing Guidelines contains policy
       statements for sentencing upon revocation of supervised release.
       Among other things, Chapter Seven provides rules for calculating
       the advisory guideline range and recommends that all revocation
       sentences run consecutively. See U.S.S.G. §§ 7B1.3(f), 7B1.4. In
       particular, according to § 7B1.3(f), revocation sentences “shall be
       ordered to be served consecutively to any sentence of imprison-
       ment that the defendant is serving,” even if the sentence being
       served “resulted from the conduct that is the basis of the revocation
       of probation or supervised release.” U.S.S.G. § 7B1.3(f). Revoca-
       tion sentences are intended to sanction “the defendant’s breach of
       trust,” not to punish the underlying conduct. See U.S.S.G. Ch. 7,
       Pt. A, intro. cmt. 3(b).
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       22-13947               Opinion of the Court                         7

               Here, Seals has not established any significant procedural er-
       ror at his sentencing. The district court stated that a sentence at
       the high end of the guideline range, running consecutively to the
       related drug sentence, was appropriate based on Seals’s conduct
       while on supervision. That undisputed conduct included multiple
       felonies, dangerous conduct, and other violations of the conditions
       of his release. The court also cited the “chapter seven provisions,”
       stating that they were “appropriate in this matter.” In other words,
       the court found that a sentence within the range and of the type
       recommended by the guidelines was appropriate based on Seals’s
       repeated, serious breaches of the court’s trust while on supervision.
       While the court did not go into further detail during the brief hear-
       ing or address mitigating evidence, its explanation was adequate to
       show that it considered the § 3553(a) factors and the parties’ argu-
       ments and had a reasoned basis for its decision. See Rita, 551 U.S.
       at 356–58.
               Seals also has not shown that the district court imposed a
       substantively unreasonable sentence. As we just noted, the court’s
       sentence fell within the guideline range of 30 to 37 months, and
       “we ordinarily expect a sentence within [that] range to be reasona-
       ble.” United States v. Hunt, 526 F.3d 739, 746 (11th Cir. 2008)
       (cleaned up). While Seals objects to the consecutive nature of the
       revocation sentence, the guidelines recommended that, too. See
       U.S.S.G. § 7B1.3(f). And given Seals’s serious breach of the court’s
       trust, based on undisputed facts about his conduct while under su-
       pervision, the record amply supports the court’s decision to follow
       the ordinary rule and impose a consecutive sentence. Giving due
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       8                     Opinion of the Court                22-13947

       deference to the court’s weighing of the § 3553(a) factors, we can-
       not say its choice of sentence was unreasonable under the totality
       of the circumstances. See Osorto, 995 F.3d at 822.
             For these reasons, we affirm Seals’s sentence.
             AFFIRMED.