Court Opinion

ID: 9499115
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:38:09.811815+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:17.218968
License: Public Domain

CLAY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The majority opinion in this case represents the latest step in an ongoing push within this Circuit to subvert United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), and to make the sentencing Guidelines de facto mandatory. This Court took its first major step in this direction when it purportedly held in United States v. Williams, 436 F.3d 706, 708 (6th Cir.2006), that on appeal, this Circuit would now credit sentences “properly calculated under the Guidelines with a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness.” While the Williams Court erred in the first instance by holding that a sentence within the Guidelines range is presumptively reasonable on appeal, the majority has now alarmingly compounded that error by holding that district courts may consider a sentence within the Guidelines range to be presumptively reasonable.1 The majority’s holding in this case directly contravenes Booker, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), and this Court’s prior holdings that district courts are to consider all the § 3553(a) factors in arriving at a sentence sufficient to, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).
In excising “the provision [of the Sentencing Guidelines] that require[d] sentencing courts to impose a sentence within *545the applicable Guidelines range (in the absence of circumstances that justify a departure),” Booker, 543 U.S. at 259, 125 S.Ct. 738, the Booker Court left intact § 3553(a), which requires that district courts “take account of the Guidelines together with other sentencing goals” of § 3553(a) in order to arrive at the appropriate sentence for each individual defendant. Id. After providing the district courts with guidance on how to determine what sentence to impose, the Supreme Court went on to state that sentencing decisions are appealable regardless of whether the sentence falls within or outside the applicable Guidelines range; and that the appellate courts are to review those sentences for “unreasonableness.” Id. at 261, 125 S.Ct. 738. Booker further instructs that the courts of appeals, in reviewing sentences imposed by the district courts, are to be guided by the same § 3553(a) factors that the district courts are required to consider in determining what sentence to impose on the defendant. Id.
By making the Sentencing Guidelines advisory rather than mandatory, the Supreme Court made clear that its purpose was to remedy the constitutional problems created by the mandatory system, and yet to also “continue to move sentencing in Congress’ preferred direction, helping to avoid excessive sentencing disparities while maintaining flexibility sufficient to individualize sentences where necessary.” Id. at 264-65, 125 S.Ct. 738 (citing 28 U.S.C. § 991(b)). In so doing, the Supreme Court recognized that the system it created would involve greater exercise of discretion by district courts and a greater range of sentencing than a mandatory Guidelines system. Booker, 543 U.S. at 263, 125 S.Ct. 738. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court concluded that such a system was required in light of Booker’s holding on the merits. Id. The plain statutory language of what remains of the Sentencing Reform Act after Booker places the advisory Guidelines range as one factor amongst several that district courts are to consider in arriving at an appropriate sentence. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Nothing in the text of the § 3553(a) elevates the now-advisory Guidelines sentence above other factors or permits the district court to “presume” that the advisory sentence would be reasonable for an individual defendant.
Instructing district courts that they are allowed to consider a within-Guidelines sentence to be presumptively reasonable discourages district courts from exercising the discretion which Booker holds is required, and has the practical effect of making the Guidelines de facto mandatory. First, a presumption of reasonableness in the sentencing court imposes upon the defendant the undue burden of having to justify a departure from the Guidelines range. See United States v. Webb, 403 F.3d 373, 385 n. 9 (6th Cir.2005) (“[W]e also decline to hold that a sentence within a proper Guidelines range is per-se reasonable2. Such a per-se test is not only inconsistent with the meaning of ‘reasonableness,’ but is also inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Booker, as such a standard would effectively re-institute mandatory adherence to the Guidelines.”). Second, a presumption of reasonableness on appeal unduly pressures the district court to sentence within the Guide*546lines range in order to discourage review and avoid reversal. Third, and most importantly, a presumption of reasonableness improperly elevates the Guidelines above the other § 3553(a) factors.
The district court’s job is not to start with a Guidelines sentence and then decide whether a departure is warranted. While it is true that the Guidelines are the only sentencing factor which produces a number for the district court’s consideration, this is not, however, the only number before the district court. All sentences begin and end within the statutory sentencing range for the crime of conviction. It is therefore the statutory sentencing range which serves as the district court’s point of departure as the district court tailors a defendant’s sentence in accordance with § 3553(a).
Even were the Guidelines range a “starting point” within the statutory minimum and maximum for the crime of conviction, there is a difference between using the Guidelines as a “starting point,” and considering a Guidelines sentence to be “presumptively reasonable,” as the Ninth Circuit has already observed. See United States v. Zavala, 443 F.3d 1165, 1169 (9th Cir.2006). The Zavala Court provides excellent perspective on the issue:
In this area, were a presumption proper, we suppose it would be a mandatory rebuttable presumption. But even that is more than a mere starting point because it gives a particular weight to the thing presumed. It would indicate that the Guideline range is to be used unless (by some evidentiary standard) a party can prove the contrary. That is much more than a mere consult for advice, and the Guidelines are to be no more than that. If a district court presumed that the sentence should be a Guideline range sentence, it would thereby make it much more than something to be consulted and would give it much heavier weight than § 3553(a) now does. That leaves it as a factor in the sentencing alchemy ... Simply put, a presumption at the district court would give undue weight to the Guidelines. The dangers averted by declaring them to be merely advisory would become recrudescent.
Zavala, 443 F.3d at 1169, 1170 (citations and quotations omitted); see also United States v. Jiménez-Beltre, 440 F.3d 514, 518 (1st Cir.2006) (en banc) (reasoning that although making the Guidelines “presumptive” or “per se reasonable” does not make them mandatory, “it tends in that direction”); United States v. Fernandez, 443 F.3d 19, 27 (2d Cir.2006) (“We [] decline to establish any presumption, rebuttable or otherwise, that a Guidelines sentence is reasonable.”); United States v. Cooper, 437 F.3d 324, 332 (3d Cir.2006) (declining to adopt a rule that a sentence within the Guidelines is per se reasonable because such a finding “would come close to restoring the mandatory nature of the guidelines excised in Booker ”).
I recognize that the Guidelines represent considerable research and insight into the actual sentencing practices of the judiciary. I also credit the Guidelines with producing a sentence which would be reasonable upon appeal given an “average” defendant with the background and offense circumstances in an average defendant’s position. Yet, an “average” defendant is a mathematical amalgamation which does not exist in real life, and a “presumption” of reasonableness in the trial court or on appeal leads courts to overly rely on the rather broad generalizations inherent in the Guidelines. In sentencing, the district court is not tasked with fashioning a sentence for an average defendant; the court must determine an appropriate sentence for the individual defendant before it.
*547Rather than presuming that a sentence within the Guidelines range is reasonable for an individual defendant before it, the district court is instead obligated to follow the sentencing procedure that is provided by Booker and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), and should: (1) calculate the appropriate advisory Guidelines sentencing range; (2) consider the other § 3553(a) factors, including the nature and characteristics of the defendant, the need for the sentence imposed to reflect the seriousness of the crime, promote respect for the law, provide just punishment for the offense, afford adequate deterrence, protect the public from future crimes by the defendant, and to provide the defendant with needed educational/vocational training, medical care or correctional treatment; and (3) impose a sentence “sufficient to but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes” of § 3553(a), and which falls within the statutory minimum and maximum sentence for the crime of conviction. See Webb, 403 F.3d at 383 (stating that we may find a district court sentence to be unreasonable if the district judge fails to consider the applicable Guidelines range or neglects to consider the other § 3553(a) factors); United States v. Jackson, 408 F.3d 301, 304 (6th Cir.2005) (“[District courts are required to consider the applicable Guidelines sentencing range when arriving at a defendant’s sentence [] but only as one factor of several laid out in § 3553(a).”); United States v. Foreman, 436 F.3d 638, 644 (6th Cir.2006) (rejecting the notion that a sentence within the applicable Guidelines range would be presumptively reasonable absent evidence on the record that the district court considered the other § 3553(a) factors); see also Fernandez, 443 F.3d at 26 (“[T]he now-advisory Guidelines are to be considered, together with the other factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), by judges fashioning sentences.”); Cooper, 437 F.3d at 329 (“The record must demonstrate the trial court0 gave meaningful consideration to the § 3553(a) factors.”).
It is also crucially important that the district court articulate on the record its reasons for imposing a particular sentence. Our review of the sentence imposed by the district court is not limited to a consideration of the length of the sentence; rather, Booker instructs that in determining reasonableness, we are also to consider “the factors evaluated and the procedures employed by the district court in reaching its sentencing determination.” United States v. Morris, 448 F.3d 929, 931 (6th Cir.2006) (Clay, J., concurring). We may therefore conclude that a sentence is “unreasonable when the district judge fails to ‘consider’ the applicable Guidelines range or neglects to ‘consider’ the other factors listed in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), and instead simply selects what the judge deems an appropriate sentence without such required consideration.” Id. (citing Webb, 403 F.3d at 383); Jackson, 408 F.3d at 305.
In the post-Booker world, the district courts enjoy enhanced discretion in fashioning appropriate sentences. It is, as a consequence, more difficult in this new era to say that any particular sentence within the statutory range for the crime of conviction would be substantively unreasonable. Our review for procedural reasonableness therefore takes on new importance. This Court must be able to determine what methods were employed and which factors were considered by the sentencing court, and we cannot do so unless “the district court in each case [ ] communicate[s] clearly its rationale for imposing the specific sentence.” United States v. Richardson, 437 F.3d 550, 554 (6th Cir.2006); Jackson, 408 F.3d at 305 (“[Pjursuant to Booker, we as an appellate court must still have the articulation of the reasons the district court reached the sentence ultimately imposed, as required by 18 U.S.C. *548§ 3553(c).”); Moms, 448 F.3d at 932 (Clay, J., concurring) (cautioning that the rebuttable presumption of reasonableness language “does not relieve the district court of the obligation to consider other relevant statutory factors or sufficiently articulate its reasoning so as to permit reasonable appellate review”).
In light of all these considerations, I would find in the present case that Defendant’s sentence is in fact unreasonable. The majority incorrectly holds that the district court did not violate Booker in sentencing Defendant, but the record reveals that the district court made significant mistakes in the method it employed in sentencing Defendant. First of all, the district court utilized an incorrect standard for determining what sentence to impose on Defendant. The district court, rather than imposing a sentence that complied with the purposes set forth in § 3553(a), instead repeatedly stated that it was imposing a sentence within the Guidelines because it considered such a sentence to be “reasonable.” The district court’s remarks about “reasonableness” reveal that in sentencing Defendant, the district court misapprehended its role. It is not the district court’s job to assume the reasonableness of a Guidelines sentence; rather, as previously noted by this Court, “[reasonableness is the appellate standard of review in judging whether a district court has accomplished its task.” Foreman, 436 F.3d at 644 n. 1 (emphasis in the original). Defendant should have been given a sentence sufficient to, but not greater than that required, to comply with the § 3553(a) factors, not a sentence that the district court considered to be “reasonable” for ill-defined reasons.
■ The district court also erred in stating that it was its obligation under Booker to “consider[] the sentencing guidelines and the guideline ranges before [he did] anything else,” and to consider them to be presumptively reasonable. The majority incorrectly holds that the district court did not err in viewing the Guidelines as a presumptively reasonable starting point. Although the majority attempts to surreptitiously merge the circumstances of Williams with this case, it must be reiterated that Williams does not stand for the proposition that a district court may assume a sentence within the applicable Guidelines range to be presumptively reasonable. Rather, the Williams Court specifically held that on appeal, this Court may consider a sentence within the Guidelines range to be presumptively reasonable. It did not apply the “presumptive reasonableness” standard to the district court, as does the majority here.
The facts' of this case reveal that the district court, operating under an erroneous reasonableness standard, viewed the Guidelines as presumptively reasonable, and as a consequence, failed to properly consider the other § 3553(a) factors as required. The district court stated that it would impose a Guidelines sentence, and was willing to “move away from the Guidelines” only if it thought departure was necessary to impose a “reasonable” sentence. According to the district court, if it decided to impose a non-Guidelines sentence, it would do so because the court was “following the Congressional Mandates of Section 3553.” (J.A. at 22.) This method of calculating Defendant’s sentence violated Booker in that the district court mistakenly believed that it was required to start with a Guidelines sentence and could only depart upward or downward if some other § 3553(a) factor, or combination thereof, compelled a departure. That is not now, nor has it ever been, this Court’s understanding or treatment of the Guidelines post -Booker. The law of this Circuit has been quite clear that post -Booker, district courts are required to consider the applicable Guidelines sentencing range when *549arriving at a defendant’s sentence, along with the factors set out in § 3553(a). The district court’s sentencing method in this case improperly elevated the Guidelines above the § 3553(a) factors, and deprived Defendant of the right to have those factors weighed alongside the Guidelines.
As a result of the district court’s application of an erroneous standard and method of computing Defendant’s sentence, and lack of proper consideration of the § 3553(a) factors, I believe that we are unable to say that Defendant’s sentence was reasonable. I would therefore vacate Defendant’s sentence and remand this case back to the district court for a new sentencing hearing.

. The step the majority takes today would not appear to be embraced by even all members of this Court who accept the Williams’ rebut-table presumption of reasonableness for Guidelines-range sentences on appeal. See United States v. Buchanan, 449 F.3d 731, 740 (6th Cir.2006) (Sutton, J., concurring) (noting that "[Reasonableness is an appellate standard of review”) (emphasis in original).

. I also question whether the rebuttable presumption language in Williams should be considered to be binding on this Court given the fact that the Webb Court had already stated that it declined to hold that a sentence within the Guidelines range is per se reasonable. Although the terminology is different, in reality I see very little real difference between saying that a Guidelines sentence is presumptively reasonable versus per se reasonable.