Court Opinion

ID: 9940395
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-14 15:00:40.834543+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:44:49.865319
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 22-13545    Document: 42-1     Date Filed: 02/14/2024   Page: 1 of 3

                                                  [DO NOT PUBLISH]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

                          ____________________

                                No. 22-13545
                          ____________________

       UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                      Plaintiﬀ-Appellee,
       versus
       KA’DEEM I. SHEPPARD-SANKEY,

                                                  Defendant-Appellant.

                          ____________________

                 Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Middle District of Alabama
                 D.C. Docket No. 2:22-cr-00024-WKW-SMD-1
                           ____________________

       Before WILSON, GRANT, and LAGOA, Circuit Judges.
USCA11 Case: 22-13545     Document: 42-1     Date Filed: 02/14/2024    Page: 2 of 3

       2                     Opinion of the Court                 22-13545

       PER CURIAM:
               Ka’Deem Sheppard-Sankey pleaded guilty to one count of
       possession of a firearm while under indictment for a felony offense,
       in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(n). At his sentencing hearing, the
       district court applied a four-level enhancement for possessing that
       firearm in connection with another felony offense—specifically,
       drug trafficking. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines § 2K2.1(b)(6)(B).
       The district court ultimately imposed a sentence of 42-months’
       imprisonment, a downward variance from the Guidelines range,
       which was 51 to 60 months.
              On appeal, Sheppard-Sankey challenges his sentence for
       both procedural and substantive reasonableness.             On the
       procedural front, he argues that the district court erred by finding
       that he was engaged in drug trafficking at the time he possessed the
       firearm. But when police arrested Sheppard-Sankey after a lengthy,
       high-speed chase, they found a pistol behind the passenger seat of
       the vehicle he was driving next to a backpack that contained 2.8
       ounces of marijuana, several digital scales, and two loaded rifle
       magazines. A search of his home uncovered packaging for illegal
       narcotics and another scale in a storage shed, as well as loose
       ammunition and several more loaded magazines in his bedroom.
       Finally, an FBI agent testified at the sentencing hearing that
       Sheppard-Sankey’s cellphone contained several recent text
       messages arranging drug deals with customers, as well as several
       undated photographs of, among other things, Sheppard-Sankey
       displaying firearms and offering marijuana and other drugs for sale.
USCA11 Case: 22-13545    Document: 42-1     Date Filed: 02/14/2024   Page: 3 of 3

       22-13545              Opinion of the Court                      3

       This was more than enough evidence for the district court to
       conclude by a preponderance that Sheppard-Sankey possessed a
       firearm in connection with drug trafficking. The § 2K2.1(b)(6)(B)
       enhancement was not erroneous.
               Sheppard-Sankey next argues that his 42-month sentence is
       substantively unreasonable. But the district court properly
       considered the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors and imposed a sentence
       that it concluded was sufficient but not greater than necessary to
       accomplish the purposes of criminal sentencing. Though
       Sheppard-Sankey complains on appeal that certain mitigating
       factors were not given due weight, the district court varied its
       sentence downward from the Guidelines range in reliance on those
       very factors. We see no error.
             AFFIRMED.