Court Opinion

ID: 9353010
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-10 19:00:48.359238+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:06:31.645180
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-60303     Document: 00516604004         Page: 1     Date Filed: 01/10/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                                                     United States Court of Appeals
                                                                              Fifth Circuit

                                  No. 22-60303                              FILED
                                                                     January 10, 2023
                                Summary Calendar
                                                                       Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                            Clerk
   United States of America,

                                                             Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                       versus

   Anthony Weeden,

                                                         Defendant—Appellant.

                  Appeal from the United States District Court
                    for the Southern District of Mississippi
                            USDC No. 3:00-CR-8-1

   Before Jones, Haynes, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam:*
          Anthony Weeden, federal prisoner # 05749-043, appeals the district
   court’s denial of his motion for compassionate release. The district court
   determined that his health conditions and risks from the COVID-19
   pandemic did not constitute extraordinary and compelling reasons

          *
            Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this
   opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
   circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 22-60303       Document: 00516604004         Page: 2    Date Filed: 01/10/2023

                                    No. 22-60303

   warranting compassionate release and that, in any event, the 18 U.S.C.
   § 3553(a) factors did not support compassionate release.
          We review the district court’s decision for abuse of discretion. See
   United States v. Cooper, 996 F.3d 283, 286 (5th Cir. 2021). We need not reach
   the issue of whether Weeden demonstrated extraordinary and compelling
   circumstances under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i), as the district court’s
   denial of relief based on the § 3553(a) factors constitutes an independent
   basis for affirming. See United States v. Chambliss, 948 F.3d 691, 693-94 (5th
   Cir. 2020). Regarding § 3553(a), the district court noted Weeden’s criminal
   history and prison disciplinary cases and determined that releasing him
   would not be in the interests of justice and would minimize the seriousness
   of his offense.
          Weeden, who was born in 1958, notes his age and asserts, as he did in
   the district court, that he has become much older since his last criminal
   conduct, the convictions that placed him in criminal history category VI are
   all over 20 years old, he has been continuously incarcerated since 2006, he is
   in diminished health, and the private sector could better serve his medical
   needs. Weeden has not shown that the district court abused its discretion
   with respect to the § 3553(a) factors. See Chambliss, 948 F.3d at 693-94. He
   does not dispute the substance of the criminal history or prison disciplinary
   cases referenced by the district court. His disagreement with the district
   court’s balancing of the § 3553(a) factors is not a sufficient ground for
   reversal. See id. at 694.
          AFFIRMED.

                                         2