Court Opinion

ID: 9908894
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-12 01:00:46.323667+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:49:34.991126
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-10895         Document: 00516997051             Page: 1      Date Filed: 12/11/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                      ____________
                                                                                United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                         Fifth Circuit
                                       No. 23-10895
                                     Summary Calendar                                  FILED
                                     ____________                              December 11, 2023
                                                                                  Lyle W. Cayce
   United States of America,                                                           Clerk

                                                                       Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                             versus

   Garmon Coats,

                                               Defendant—Appellant.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                          for the Northern District of Texas
                               USDC No. 4:93-CR-128-1
                      ______________________________

   Before Haynes, Willett, and Duncan, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Garmon Coats, federal prisoner # 24754-077, moves for leave to
   proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) in his appeal from the denial of his 18 U.S.C.
   § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i) motion for compassionate release. He is currently serving
   an 802-month sentence for various robbery and firearm convictions. The
   district court determined that Coats failed to show extraordinary and

          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-10895      Document: 00516997051          Page: 2    Date Filed: 12/11/2023

                                    No. 23-10895

   compelling reasons warranting a reduction in sentence and further that the
   18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors did not weigh in favor of granting relief. See
   § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i).
          In his brief on appeal, Coats renews his arguments that compassionate
   release is warranted based on the extraordinary and compelling
   circumstances that (i) various changes to the sentencing laws would result in
   a lower sentence if he were sentenced today; (ii) the Bureau of Prisons never
   awarded him credit for the time he served in state custody; and (iii) he suffers
   from several health maladies, he is not a danger or threat to the community,
   and he has been rehabilitated and reformed.
          To the extent Coats’s arguments challenge the district court’s
   assessment of the § 3553(a) factors, they amount to no more than a
   disagreement with the district court’s balancing of these factors, which is
   insufficient to show an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Chambliss,
   948 F.3d 691, 693-94 (5th Cir. 2020). Because Coats fails to identify a
   nonfrivolous argument that the district court abused its discretion by denying
   relief based on the balancing of the § 3553(a) factors, we need not consider
   his arguments regarding extraordinary and compelling circumstances. See
   United States v. Jackson, 27 F.4th 1088, 1093 n.8 (5th Cir. 2022); Ward v.
   United States, 11 F.4th 354, 360-62 (5th Cir. 2021); Chambliss, 948 F.3d at
   693.
          Accordingly, his IFP motion is DENIED, and the appeal is
   DISMISSED as frivolous. See Baugh v. Taylor, 117 F.3d 197, 202 & n.24
   (5th Cir. 1997); Howard v. King, 707 F.2d 215, 220 (5th Cir. 1983); 5th
   Cir. R. 42.2.

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