Filed: Nov. 26, 2019
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: Case: 19-10917 Date Filed: 11/26/2019 Page: 1 of 4 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 19-10917 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 6:18-cr-00019-PGB-LRH-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus CHRISTIAN DIOR BOB, Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida _ (November 26, 2019) Before NEWSOM, BRANCH, and GRANT, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 19-10917 Date Filed: 1
Summary: Case: 19-10917 Date Filed: 11/26/2019 Page: 1 of 4 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 19-10917 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 6:18-cr-00019-PGB-LRH-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus CHRISTIAN DIOR BOB, Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida _ (November 26, 2019) Before NEWSOM, BRANCH, and GRANT, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 19-10917 Date Filed: 11..
More
Case: 19-10917 Date Filed: 11/26/2019 Page: 1 of 4
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 19-10917
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 6:18-cr-00019-PGB-LRH-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
CHRISTIAN DIOR BOB,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
________________________
(November 26, 2019)
Before NEWSOM, BRANCH, and GRANT, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Case: 19-10917 Date Filed: 11/26/2019 Page: 2 of 4
Christian Bob appeals the district court’s imposition of a 24-month sentence
for possessing 15 or more counterfeit credit cards. He argues that the sentence is
substantively unreasonable given the district court’s 10-month upward variance
from Bob’s calculated Guidelines’ range. After review of the record, we affirm.
Bob and codefendant Kendal Mitchell were indicted for possessing 15 or
more counterfeit and unauthorized access devices, in violation of 18 U.S.C.
§ 1029(a)(3), and for possessing device-making equipment, in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 1029(a)(4). Bob pleaded guilty to possessing the unauthorized access
devices.
While the statutory maximum was 120 months, Bob’s presentence
investigation report calculated a Guidelines’ range of 8–14 months, given Bob’s
offense level of 10 and criminal history category of II. Bob did not object to the
presentence investigation report or the district court’s adoption of the report at
sentencing. Bob also did not object to the court’s upward variance. We therefore
review the substantive reasonableness of his sentence, the only claim he raises in
this appeal, 1 for plain error. United States v. Bacon,
598 F.3d 772, 777 (11th Cir.
2010) (citation omitted).
1
Bob’s brief makes a passing reference to what appears to be a procedural reasonableness claim,
but makes no argument on the issue. Therefore, it is not properly before this Court. See
Sapuppo v. Allstate Floridian Ins. Co.,
739 F.3d 678, 681 (11th Cir. 2014); United States v.
Jernigan,
341 F.3d 1273, 1283 n.8 (11th Cir. 2003) (“[A] party seeking to raise a claim or issue
on appeal must plainly and prominently so indicate.”).
2
Case: 19-10917 Date Filed: 11/26/2019 Page: 3 of 4
After extensive consideration of Bob’s personal characteristics—including a
difficult childhood marred by parental abandonment and childhood illness—as
well as the sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), the district court determined
that “the need for the sentence to reflect how serious this crime is and to
adequately deter [Bob] from future criminal conduct” necessitated an above-
Guidelines range. This was particularly so, the district court held, given that his
codefendant Mitchell had received a 30-month sentence. On appeal, Bob now
argues that the consideration of Mitchell’s sentence—which was based in part on
Mitchell’s criminal history unrelated to the credit card fraud—resulted in a
substantively unreasonable sentence.
As we have explained in prior cases, a codefendant’s sentence can be
considered in an effort to “avoid unwarranted sentence disparities among
defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of similar conduct.”
18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(6); see also United States v. Owens,
464 F.3d 1252, 1255
(11th Cir. 2006) (considering the argument that a sentence was substantively
unreasonable compared to codefendants’ shorter sentences). Far from improperly
penalizing Bob for Mitchell’s unrelated criminal history, the court imposed a
sentence “less than Mr. Mitchell” precisely because he did not participate in
Mitchell’s unrelated “fraud that predated this” credit-card scheme. The fact that
the district court discussed Mitchell’s sentence at length does not render the
3
Case: 19-10917 Date Filed: 11/26/2019 Page: 4 of 4
resulting sentence substantively unreasonable. “The district court must evaluate all
of the § 3553(a) factors, but it may attach great weight to one factor over others.”
United States v. Dougherty,
754 F.3d 1353, 1361 (11th Cir. 2014) (quotation
omitted). The weight to be given each § 3553(a) factor is within the district court’s
sound discretion. United States v. Kuhlman,
711 F.3d 1321, 1327 (11th Cir. 2013).
After considering the sentencing factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. §§ 3551 and
3553, the district court concluded that a 24-month sentence was warranted. It
found “this sentence [ ] sufficient but not greater than necessary to comply with the
statutory purposes of sentencing.” We do not presume that a sentence outside the
Guidelines’ range is unreasonable, and this is not the rare case in which we will
reverse the district court’s reasoned conclusion that the § 3553(a) factors justified
the extent of the variance. See United States v. Turner,
626 F.3d 566, 573–74
(11th Cir. 2010) (citation omitted).
AFFIRMED.
4