Court Opinion

ID: 9411555
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-27 00:01:50.372175+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:21:07.478817
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-20640        Document: 00516835320             Page: 1      Date Filed: 07/26/2023

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

                                            FILED
                                     ____________
                                                                                     July 26, 2023
                                      No. 22-20640                               Lyle W. Cayce
                                    Summary Calendar                                  Clerk
                                    ____________

   United States of America,

                                                                      Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                            versus

   Lehi Sorenson,

                                              Defendant—Appellant.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                         for the Southern District of Texas
                              USDC No. 4:22-CR-137-1
                     ______________________________

   Before Jones, Haynes, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
         Lehi Sorenson pled guilty to receiving and possessing child
   pornography. The district court varied upward from the 180-month
   Guidelines range and sentenced Sorenson to concurrent terms of 240 months
   of imprisonment followed by concurrent life terms of supervised release. On

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-20640      Document: 00516835320          Page: 2   Date Filed: 07/26/2023

                                    No. 22-20640

   appeal, Sorenson challenges the substantive reasonableness of his above-
   Guidelines sentence.
          We review a challenge to the substantive reasonableness of a sentence
   for abuse of discretion. See Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007). The
   record reflects that the district court made an individualized assessment and
   concluded that the 180-month Guidelines range did not adequately account
   for the § 3553(a) factors. Sorenson cannot show that the district court failed
   to consider a factor that should have received significant weight, gave
   significant weight to an irrelevant or improper factor, or clearly erred in
   balancing the factors. See United States v. Gerezano-Rosales, 692 F.3d 393,
   400–01 (5th Cir. 2012).
          Sorenson contends that the district court gave too little weight to his
   Guidelines calculations and prior 28-month term of imprisonment for an
   earlier child pornography offense. But the “sentencing court is free to
   conclude that the applicable Guidelines range gives too much or too little
   weight to one or more factors” and “may adjust the sentence accordingly
   under [18 U.S.C.] § 3553(a).” United States v. Lopez-Velasquez, 526 F.3d 804,
   807 (5th Cir. 2008) (quotation omitted). Sorenson also claims that his 60-
   month variance represents an unwarranted sentencing disparity. See 18
   U.S.C. § 3553(a)(6). Even assuming a disparity, there is no indication that
   any disparity is unwarranted. See United States v. Willingham, 497 F.3d 541,
   544 (5th Cir. 2007).
          AFFIRMED.

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