Court Opinion

ID: 9389697
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-26 00:00:22.448355+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:29.036750
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-30616         Document: 00516725076             Page: 1      Date Filed: 04/25/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                      ____________
                                                                               United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit
                                       No. 22-30616
                                     Summary Calendar                                 FILED
                                     ____________                                 April 25, 2023
                                                                                 Lyle W. Cayce
   United States of America,                                                          Clerk

                                                                      Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                             versus

   Brandon Holmes,

                                               Defendant—Appellant.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                         for the Western District of Louisiana
                               USDC No. 3:21-CR-302-1
                      ______________________________

   Before Wiener, Elrod, and Engelhardt, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Brandon Holmes appeals his sentence of 204 months of imprisonment
   following his guilty plea conviction for distributing methamphetamine. He
   contends that his sentence is substantively unreasonable and that the district
   court erroneously balanced the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, giving undue
   weight to his criminal history and the resulting sentencing range calculated

          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-30616        Document: 00516725076         Page: 2   Date Filed: 04/25/2023

                                    No. 22-30616

   under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1 without adequately considering the need to avoid
   unwarranted sentencing disparities.             We review the substantive
   reasonableness of his sentence for abuse of discretion, and we apply a
   presumption of reasonableness to his within-guidelines range sentence. See
   Holguin-Hernandez v. United States, 140 S. Ct. 762, 766-67 (2020); United
   States v. Naidoo, 995 F.3d 367, 382 (5th Cir. 2021).
          Here, the district court considered the Guidelines, § 3553(a), and
   Holmes’s arguments for a downward variance, but it ultimately concluded
   that the guidelines range was appropriate. Holmes’s arguments on appeal
   amount to mere disagreement with the weight that the court placed on his
   mitigating arguments and the sentence imposed, which is insufficient to
   support his contention that his sentence is unreasonable. See United States v.
   Aldawsari, 740 F.3d 1015, 1021-22 (5th Cir. 2014); United States v. Ruiz, 621
   F.3d 390, 398 (5th Cir. 2010). Accordingly, Holmes has failed to rebut the
   presumption of reasonableness applicable to his within-guidelines range
   sentence and has not shown that the district court abused its discretion. See
   Naidoo, 995 F.3d at 382-83; United States v. Hernandez, 876 F.3d 161, 166-67
   (5th Cir. 2017).
          AFFIRMED.

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