Court Opinion

ID: 9931099
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-08 16:01:29.584118+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:16:19.038146
License: Public Domain

United States Court of Appeals
                            For the Eighth Circuit
                        ___________________________

                                No. 23-1796
                        ___________________________

                            United States of America

                                      Plaintiff - Appellee

                                        v.

                             Tyler Lewis Gunderson

                                   Defendant - Appellant
                                 ____________

                    Appeal from United States District Court
                   for the Southern District of Iowa - Western
                                 ____________

                         Submitted: November 17, 2023
                            Filed: February 8, 2024
                                 [Unpublished]
                                ____________

Before COLLOTON, BENTON, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.
                          ____________

PER CURIAM.

      Tyler Gunderson challenges the substantive reasonableness of the 24-month
sentence that the district court1 imposed upon revoking his supervised release.
Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

      1
        The Honorable Stephanie M. Rose, Chief Judge, United States District Court
for the Southern District of Iowa.
       In 2015, Gunderson pled guilty to traveling with the intent to engage in a
sexual act with a juvenile, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b), and was sentenced to
60 months’ imprisonment with 10 years of supervised release. Following his
discharge from federal custody in 2020, Gunderson commenced supervised release
at a residential reentry facility, where staff soon discovered that he impermissibly
possessed a smartphone. A search of the device revealed that Gunderson had
messaged nude photographs of himself to others and visited pornographic websites,
where he used search terms such as “preteen” and “adolescent.” The Government
thereafter sought to revoke Gunderson’s supervised release. The district court
granted the Government’s petition and sentenced Gunderson to an additional eight
months’ imprisonment with five years of supervised release.

       Gunderson recommenced supervised release in 2021, but the Government
again filed a petition for revocation after reentry facility staff reported that he had
used an employment travel pass to visit his girlfriend, refused to obtain an updated
substance-abuse or mental-health evaluation, and failed to maintain employment.
The district court granted the Government’s petition and sentenced Gunderson to an
additional eight months’ imprisonment with four years of supervised release.

      Gunderson commenced supervised release once more in 2022. Months later,
the Government filed another petition for revocation after reentry facility staff
reported that Gunderson had failed to attend sex-offender treatment, possessed a
smartphone and attempted to destroy it, used a hygiene travel pass to rent a motel
room, and twice failed to report to work. The Government also alleged that
Gunderson was untruthful with the United States Probation Office. At his revocation
hearing, Gunderson admitted the allegations, which constituted Grade C violations.
The district court revoked his supervised release and sentenced him to 24 months’
imprisonment—which represented an upward variance from the United States
Sentencing Guidelines range of 4 to 10 months’ imprisonment—followed by 4 years
of supervised release.

                                         -2-
      Gunderson now appeals, arguing that the district court imposed a
substantively unreasonable sentence. He specifically asserts that the district court
abused its discretion by affording undue weight to the underlying violations while
undervaluing his mental health history, difficult upbringing, and acceptance of
responsibility, ultimately imposing a sentence that was “unduly harsh.”

       We review the reasonableness of a revocation sentence for an abuse of
discretion. United States v. Elbert, 20 F.4th 413, 416 (8th Cir. 2021). A district
court abuses its discretion when it “fails to consider a relevant and significant factor,
gives significant weight to an irrelevant or improper factor, or considers the
appropriate factors but commits a clear error of judgment in weighing those factors.”
United States v. Doerr, 42 F.4th 914, 918 (8th Cir. 2022) (citation omitted).
Although a district court must consider the relevant § 3553(a) factors incorporated
in 18 U.S.C. §3583(e) when fashioning a revocation sentence, United States v.
Johnson, 827 F.3d 740, 745 (8th Cir. 2016), it need not make specific factual findings
for each factor that it considers, United States v. Miller, 557 F.3d 910, 917 (8th Cir.
2009). Rather, “[a]ll that is generally required to satisfy the appellate court is
evidence that the district court was aware of the relevant factors.” Id. (citation
omitted). Moreover, “[i]f [the district court] decides that an outside-Guidelines
sentence is warranted, [it] must consider the extent of the deviation and ensure that
the justification is sufficiently compelling to support the degree of the variance.”
United States v. Clark, 998 F.3d 363, 370 (8th Cir. 2021) (second and third
alterations in original) (quoting Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 50 (2007)).
Finally, “it will be the unusual case when we reverse a district court sentence—
whether within, above, or below the applicable Guidelines range—as substantively
unreasonable.” United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 464 (8th Cir. 2009) (en
banc) (citation omitted).

      Here, the district court heard argument from both parties regarding an
appropriate sentence before stating that it had considered all of the § 3553(a) factors,
noting that it had twice revoked Gunderson’s supervised release but that the
eight-month sentences accompanying both revocations “clearly had no impact.” The
                                          -3-
district court additionally found that Gunderson suffered from mental health issues
but remarked that his criminal history, coupled with a demonstrable pattern of
deception, evading supervision, and deviant sexual behavior, counseled in favor of
“a long and serious restart.” It also recognized that searches for pornography
depicting “young kid[s]” had been discovered on a smartphone in Gunderson’s
possession, that an additional cellphone was now missing, and that Gunderson had
impermissibly rented a motel room with the likely purpose of engaging in sexual
activity, all of which were “deeply troubling” and indicated that he posed a safety
risk to the community. In all, the district court found that the circumstances of the
case warranted an upward variance.

       Although Gunderson disagrees with this assessment, a district court has wide
latitude under § 3553(a) to lend more weight to some sentencing factors than it does
to others; his mere dissatisfaction in this regard does not indicate an abuse of
discretion. United States v. Wickman, 988 F.3d 1065, 1067 (8th Cir. 2021).
Accordingly, we are satisfied that the district court was aware of the relevant
sentencing factors and conducted an individualized assessment applying those
factors before varying upward. E.g., Clark, 998 F.3d at 370 (finding that an upward
variance was substantively reasonable where the district court “justified its decision
based on [the defendant]’s repeated violations of supervised release, his history and
characteristics, and the need to protect the public”). Therefore, upon finding no
abuse of discretion, we conclude that the district court imposed a substantively
reasonable sentence.2

      The judgment of the district court is affirmed.
                     ______________________________

      2
        Gunderson also argues that the district court improperly relied on USSG
§ 7B1.4, comment. (n.3), which states that an upward departure may be warranted
for a “Grade C violation that is associated with a high risk of new felonious conduct.”
Nowhere does the record indicate or allow this Court to infer that the district court
or the United States Probation Office relied on this application note in fashioning
Gunderson’s sentence.
                                           -4-