Filed: Feb. 10, 2016
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 15-4337 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. RIGOBERTO MORALES OCAMPO, a/k/a Rangel Altamirano-Samura, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at Asheville. Martin K. Reidinger, District Judge. (1:14-cr-00061-MR-DLH-1) Submitted: January 20, 2016 Decided: February 10, 2016 Before DUNCAN and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior Circuit Judg
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 15-4337 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. RIGOBERTO MORALES OCAMPO, a/k/a Rangel Altamirano-Samura, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at Asheville. Martin K. Reidinger, District Judge. (1:14-cr-00061-MR-DLH-1) Submitted: January 20, 2016 Decided: February 10, 2016 Before DUNCAN and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior Circuit Judge..
More
UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 15-4337
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
RIGOBERTO MORALES OCAMPO, a/k/a Rangel Altamirano-Samura,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of North Carolina, at Asheville. Martin K. Reidinger,
District Judge. (1:14-cr-00061-MR-DLH-1)
Submitted: January 20, 2016 Decided: February 10, 2016
Before DUNCAN and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Ross Hall Richardson, Executive Director, Joshua B. Carpenter,
Jared P. Martin, FEDERAL DEFENDERS OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA,
INC., Asheville, North Carolina, for Appellant. Jill
Westmoreland Rose, United States Attorney, Anthony J. Enright,
Assistant United States Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, for
Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Rigoberto Morales Ocampo, a native and citizen of Mexico,
pled guilty, without the benefit of a plea agreement, to one
count of illegal reentry after removal subsequent to sustaining
an aggravated felony conviction, in violation of 8 U.S.C.
§ 1326(a), (b)(2) (2012). The district court sentenced Ocampo
to 46 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by a 2-year term of
supervised release. On appeal, Ocampo argues that his sentence
is procedurally unreasonable because the district court
considered Ocampo’s need for medical treatment in determining
the length of his term of incarceration, in violation of the
Supreme Court’s mandate in Tapia v. United States,
131 S. Ct.
2382 (2011). Finding no error, we affirm.
This court reviews any federal sentence for reasonableness,
applying the abuse of discretion standard. United States v.
Lymas,
781 F.3d 106, 111 (4th Cir. 2015) (citing Gall v. United
States,
552 U.S. 38, 41 (2007)). We first consider the
procedural reasonableness of the sentence, which requires us to
evaluate whether the district court committed a significant
procedural error, such as improperly calculating the Sentencing
Guidelines range or failing to appropriately consider the
relevant sentencing factors.
Gall, 552 U.S. at 51. Under this
court’s precedent, the asserted Tapia error pertains to the
procedural reasonableness of Ocampo’s sentence, as it alleges
2
that the sentencing court considered a prohibited 18 U.S.C.
§ 3553(a) (2012) factor in determining the defendant’s sentence. *
See United States v. Bennett,
698 F.3d 194, 200 (4th Cir. 2012)
(explaining that Tapia error is “a procedural error under
Gall”).
In Tapia, the Supreme Court held that 18 U.S.C. § 3582(a)
(2012) “precludes sentencing courts from imposing or lengthening
a prison term to promote an offender’s rehabilitation.”
Tapia,
131 S. Ct. at 2391. Although Ocampo contends otherwise, our
review of the record reveals that defense counsel “did not
object” at the sentencing hearing “on the grounds asserted
here,” and therefore, we review the Tapia claim for plain error.
Bennett, 698 F.3d at 199. To establish plain error, Ocampo must
demonstrate that (1) the district court erred, (2) the error was
plain, and (3) the error affected his substantial rights.
Id.
at 200 (citing United States v. Olano,
507 U.S. 725, 732, 734
(1993)).
We discern no plain Tapia error on this record. As we
explained in United States v. Lemon,
777 F.3d 170 (4th Cir.
2015), for a Tapia claim to succeed, the sentencing court’s
reference to the defendant’s rehabilitative needs must be
*
Ocampo does not challenge the substantive reasonableness
of his sentence.
3
causally related to the court’s sentencing determination. See
Lemon, 777 F.3d at 174 (marshalling sister circuit authority and
observing that it is “unlikely that a court has committed Tapia
error unless it has considered rehabilitation for the specific
purpose of imposing or lengthening a prison sentence”). To the
extent that Ocampo’s medical needs were considered at
sentencing, it is clear that the court addressed them in ruling
on Ocampo’s request for a downward departure based on U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 5H1.4, p.s. (2014). But it was
the other, proper § 3553(a) factors — namely, the need for the
sentence to reflect the seriousness of the offense and to
provide both general and specific deterrence — that “motivated
the court’s decision to impose its sentence.”
Lemon, 777 F.3d
at 175. We thus reject Ocampo’s contention that there was a
causal connection between the selected sentence and the medical
concerns defense counsel identified to support her request for a
downward departure. See United States v. Naramor,
726 F.3d
1160, 1170 (10th Cir. 2013) (rejecting Tapia claim based on
sentencing court’s consideration of defendant’s need for mental
health treatment, and concluding that court “did not tie the
length of” defendant’s sentence to his needed mental health
treatment but, rather, had “rejected [d]efendant’s arguments
that his mental illness warranted leniency”).
4
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal
contentions are adequately presented in the materials before
this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
5