Court Opinion

ID: 9952646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-20 15:01:47.365425+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:42:02.150148
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 23-10414    Document: 50-1     Date Filed: 03/20/2024   Page: 1 of 4

                                                  [DO NOT PUBLISH]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

                          ____________________

                                No. 23-10414
                          Non-Argument Calendar
                          ____________________

       UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                      Plaintiﬀ-Appellee,
       versus
       JADDIER THOMAS SANCHEZ,

                                                  Defendant- Appellant.

                          ____________________

                 Appeal from the United States District Court
                     for the Southern District of Florida
                    D.C. Docket No. 0:21-cr-60051-RAR-1
                          ____________________
USCA11 Case: 23-10414        Document: 50-1         Date Filed: 03/20/2024        Page: 2 of 4

       2                         Opinion of the Court                      23-10414

       Before GRANT, BRASHER, and ABUDU, Circuit Judges.
       PER CURIAM:
              Jaddier Sanchez appeals his 300-months’ imprisonment for
       kidnapping three people with a ﬁrearm. Because we do not ﬁnd
       this sentence substantively unreasonable, we aﬃrm.
                                             I.
              Jaddier Sanchez has a long and well-documented history of
       violence and violating the law. He has pleaded guilty and received
       jail time for aggravated stalking, retail theft, driving with a
       suspended license, and violating an injunction for protection
       against domestic violence. And he has been previously convicted
       of robbery, for which he served a 15-year prison sentence. 1
              About six months after being released from custody for his
       robbery conviction, Sanchez committed the present oﬀenses. He
       drove to his ex-girlfriend’s house in the middle of the night and
       kidnapped her and her parents at gunpoint. He demanded money
       from the parents and forced all three into a truck, threatening them
       multiple times with his ﬁrearm. He later stopped, forced the
       parents out of the car, tied them up, and left them on the side of
       the road. He then drove his ex-girlfriend from Florida to northern
       Virginia, where he was eventually arrested.

       1 While in prison for robbery, Sanchez received 65 disciplinary actions against

       him for various infractions, both violent and nonviolent.
USCA11 Case: 23-10414     Document: 50-1     Date Filed: 03/20/2024   Page: 3 of 4

       23-10414              Opinion of the Court                       3

              Sanchez pleaded guilty to three counts of kidnapping and
       one count of possession of a ﬁrearm and ammunition by a
       convicted felon. The presentencing investigation report calculated
       a Guidelines range of 168- to 210-months’ imprisonment, but it
       also recognized that Sanchez’s extensive criminal history “may
       warrant departure and/or variance.” The government moved for
       upward variance and/or departure, and the district court sentenced
       Sanchez to 300-months’ imprisonment, 90 months more than the
       recommended Guidelines range. Sanchez appeals, arguing that his
       sentence is substantively unreasonable.
                                       II.

               We will not consider a sentence substantively unreasonable
       unless “we are left with the deﬁnite and ﬁrm conviction that the
       district court committed a clear error of judgment in weighing the
       18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors” to arrive at a sentence outside the
       Guidelines range. United States v. Riley, 995 F.3d 1272, 1278 (11th
       Cir. 2021) (alteration adopted) (quotation omitted). These factors
       include “the nature of the circumstances of the oﬀense and the
       history and characteristics of the defendant.”           18 U.S.C.
       § 3553(a)(1). Courts may also consider the need for the sentence
       “‘to reﬂect the seriousness of the oﬀense, to promote respect for
       the law,’ ‘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.’” Riley, 995 F.3d at
       1278–79 (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)). District courts have
       discretion in weighing these factors, and that discretion is
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       4                      Opinion of the Court                  23-10414

       “particularly pronounced when it comes to weighing criminal
       history.” Id. at 1279.
               The district court’s decision in this case to impose a sentence
       90 months over the Guidelines range was not substantively
       unreasonable. The court considered Sanchez’s present crime and
       criminal history to conclude that he is a violent, repeat oﬀender. It
       found that Sanchez’s criminal history was “woefully
       underrepresented” in the Guidelines calculation, and that “a
       stronger sentence is necessary to protect the public from his future
       crimes.” These are all factors that we have said can be used to grant
       a sentence above the Guidelines range, and we do not ﬁnd that the
       district court gave any unreasonable weight to these factors. See id.
       at 1278–81. We AFFIRM.