Filed: Jan. 04, 2011
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 10-12184 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT Non-Argument Calendar JANUARY 4, 2011 _ JOHN LEY CLERK D.C. Docket No. 0:10-cr-60020-CMA-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee, versus RAFAEL ARCANGEL SANDOVAL-MERCADO, a.k.a. Carlos Enrique Vargas Soto, a.k.a. Rafael Arcangel Sandoval, lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Cour
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 10-12184 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT Non-Argument Calendar JANUARY 4, 2011 _ JOHN LEY CLERK D.C. Docket No. 0:10-cr-60020-CMA-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee, versus RAFAEL ARCANGEL SANDOVAL-MERCADO, a.k.a. Carlos Enrique Vargas Soto, a.k.a. Rafael Arcangel Sandoval, lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court..
More
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________ FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
No. 10-12184 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
Non-Argument Calendar JANUARY 4, 2011
________________________ JOHN LEY
CLERK
D.C. Docket No. 0:10-cr-60020-CMA-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
RAFAEL ARCANGEL SANDOVAL-MERCADO,
a.k.a. Carlos Enrique Vargas Soto,
a.k.a. Rafael Arcangel Sandoval,
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
________________________
(January 4, 2011)
Before EDMONDSON, WILSON and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Rafael Arcangel Sandoval-Mercado was convicted for aggravated identity
theft and illegal reentry into the United States. He now appeals his sentence of 36
months’ imprisonment. He argues that the sentence is unreasonable because the
district court failed to consider all the factors under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) and failed
to provide a proper “Statement of Reasons.” Thus, Sandoval-Mercado challenges
only the process by which the district court imposed the sentence—he makes no
argument as to the substantive reasonableness of the sentence.
We review a district court’s imposition of a sentence under the deferential
abuse-of-discretion standard. Gall v. United States,
552 U.S. 38, 41, 51 (2007).
To assess whether a sentence is procedurally reasonable, we determine whether
the district court committed any “significant procedural error, such as failing to
calculate (or improperly calculating) the [sentencing] Guidelines range, treating
the Guidelines as mandatory, failing to consider the § 3553(a) factors, selecting a
sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or failing to adequately explain the
chosen sentence . . . .”
Id. at 51. The district court need not have discussed each §
3553(a) factor individually, but need only have acknowledged that it considered
the defendant’s arguments and the § 3553(a) factors. United States v. Talley,
431
F.3d 784, 786 (11th Cir. 2005) (per curiam). As the Supreme Court explained in
Rita v. United States, “[t]he sentencing judge should set forth enough to satisfy the
2
appellate court that he has considered the parties’ arguments and has a reasoned
basis for exercising his own legal decisionmaking authority.”
551 U.S. 338, 356
(2007). Thus, the law leaves much to the district judge’s “own professional
judgment.”
Id.
Sandoval-Mercado argues that the sentencing judge “only provided a boiler-
plate Statement of Reasons that was unresponsive and silent to the issues
presented in the Sentencing Hearing.” But we find that the statements of the
district judge during sentencing are sufficient to meet any procedural
requirements: Upon sentencing Sandoval-Mercado, the district court
acknowledged that it had considered the pre-sentence investigation report with its
advisory guidelines and the § 3553(a) factors. Because we find no procedural
error,1 we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing
Sandoval-Mercado to 36 months’ imprisonment. Accordingly, we affirm.
AFFIRMED.
1
Ordinarily, once we determine that the district court’s decision was procedurally sound,
we next consider the substantive reasonableness of the sentence imposed.
Gall, 552 U.S. at 51.
However, a party abandons any issue that it has not clearly delineated in its initial appellate brief.
Fed. Sav. and Loan Ins. Corp. v. Haralson,
813 F.2d 370, 373 n.3 (11th Cir. 1987). We will not
reach the issue of substantive reasonableness because Sandoval-Mercado did not argue it here.
3