Court Opinion

ID: 9880659
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-28 00:00:50.688479+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:56:49.936612
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-30067        Document: 00516910953             Page: 1      Date Filed: 09/27/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit
                                     ____________
                                                                               United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit
                                      No. 23-30067
                                    Summary Calendar                                  FILED
                                    ____________                             September 27, 2023
                                                                                 Lyle W. Cayce
   United States of America,                                                          Clerk

                                                                      Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                            versus

   Denell Linn Lee,

                                              Defendant—Appellant.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                        for the Western District of Louisiana
                              USDC No. 5:20-CR-153-1
                     ______________________________

   Before Smith, Higginson, and Engelhardt, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
         Denell Lee appeals his convictions for possession of a firearm by a
   felon, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and possession of
   methamphetamine, a violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). He was sentenced
   within the guideline range to 115 months imprisonment. These charges result
   from a traffic stop where police recovered a handgun and hundreds of

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-30067      Document: 00516910953           Page: 2     Date Filed: 09/27/2023

                                     No. 23-30067

   methamphetamine-based tablets. The police officer claims that Lee
   consented to the search of his vehicle; Lee contests these facts. The police
   car was equipped with a dash camera, but the video from that stop was
   deleted. The district court determined the police officer’s account of the
   traffic stop credible. Lee argues, however, that this video contained
   exculpatory evidence and so the failure to preserve it prejudiced him. He also
   contends that the sentence imposed by the district court was excessive in
   light of mitigating factors.
          We find Lee has not shown the traffic stop was improper or that the
   deleted video of the stop contained exculpatory evidence. Before us he
   presents only undeveloped or conclusional arguments that do not refute the
   district court’s finding that the arresting officer’s description of the stop was
   credible. See Fed. R. App. P. 28(a)(9); Yohey v. Collins, 985 F.2d 222, 225
   (5th Cir. 1993); United States v. Harris, 740 F.3d 956, 968 (5th Cir. 2014).
           We further find that Lee’s sentence was not excessive. The district
   court considered the factors in the Sentencing Guidelines and Lee does not
   allege error in that analysis, but rather only requests a different balance of the
   factors. We assume that sentences within the guidelines are reasonable.
   United States v. Alvarado, 691 F.3d 592, 597 (5th Cir. 2012); see Gall v. United
   States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007).
          AFFIRMED.

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