Court Opinion

ID: 9398366
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-31 00:00:38.74238+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:33.052765
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-10485        Document: 00516768011             Page: 1      Date Filed: 05/30/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit
                                     ____________
                                                                               United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit
                                      No. 22-10485
                                    Summary Calendar                                   FILED
                                    ____________                                     May 30, 2023
                                                                                 Lyle W. Cayce
   United States of America,                                                          Clerk

                                                                      Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                            versus

   Clayton McBryde,

                                              Defendant—Appellant.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                         for the Northern District of Texas
                              USDC No. 5:20-CR-135-1
                     ______________________________

   Before Wiener, Elrod, and Engelhardt, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
         Defendant-Appellant Clayton McBryde pleaded guilty to possession
   of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor, in violation of 18
   U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(b), (b)(2). The district court sentenced McBryde to
   the statutory maximum of 240 months of imprisonment, followed by a life
   term of supervised release.

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-10485      Document: 00516768011           Page: 2     Date Filed: 05/30/2023

                                     No. 22-10485

          McBryde challenges two of the district court’s evidentiary decisions:
   1) the denial of McBryde’s motion to compel a pdf version of the victim’s
   cell phone data and 2) the denial of McBryde’s request to admit a hard drive
   of his children’s cell phone data at sentencing. We review discovery orders
   and the exclusion of sentencing evidence for abuse of discretion. See United
   States v. Carbajal, 290 F.3d 277, 287 (5th Cir. 2002) (sentencing); United
   States v. Reeves, 892 F.2d 1223, 1226 (5th Cir. 1990) (discovery); see also Fed.
   R. Crim. P. 32(i)(2).
          McBryde has not shown that the district court abused its discretion in
   either of those decisions. See United States v. Runyon, 290 F.3d 233, 245 (5th
   Cir. 2002). The district court weighed the privacy interests of the minor
   victim and other minors, see 18 U.S.C. § 3771(a)(1), (a)(8), and the parties do
   not dispute that defense counsel could access and review the cellphone data
   in question with the Government’s assistance. As for the hard drive, defense
   counsel failed to persuasively explain the purpose of admitting all the data
   from the McBryde children’s four cell phones. Carbajal, 290 F.3d at 287. The
   record provides no indication that these rulings prejudiced McBryde’s ability
   to submit rebuttal evidence.
          McBryde also challenges the district court’s application of U.S.S.G.
   § 2G2.2(c)(1) in calculating his guidelines sentence. McBryde preserved this
   issue for our review by objecting to the application of the § 2G2.2(c)(1) cross-
   reference. See United States v. Medina-Anicacio, 325 F.3d 638, 642 (5th Cir.
   2003). When considering a preserved claim of procedural error, we review
   the district court’s interpretation and application of the guidelines de novo
   and its factual findings for clear error. United States v. Cisneros-Gutierrez, 517
   F.3d 751, 764 (5th Cir. 2008).
          The record supports the district court’s determination that the pre-
   sentence report had sufficient indicia of reliability and that the Government

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Case: 22-10485     Document: 00516768011           Page: 3   Date Filed: 05/30/2023

                                    No. 22-10485

   proved by a preponderance of the evidence that McBryde caused a minor to
   engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual
   depiction of such conduct. See United States v. Rodriguez, 630 F.3d 377, 380
   (5th Cir. 2011); United States v. Juarez, 626 F.3d 246, 251 (5th Cir. 2010).
   Even if the district court committed procedural error regarding McBryde’s
   sentence, the error was harmless. See United States v. Sanchez, 850 F.3d 767,
   769 (5th Cir. 2017); see also United States v. Delgado-Martinez, 564 F.3d 750,
   753 (5th Cir. 2009).
          AFFIRMED.

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