USA v. Nehemias Lopez-Perez, No. 12-15076 (11th Cir. 2013)

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Case: 12-15076 Date Filed: 06/10/2013 Page: 1 of 3 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 12-15076 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 8:12-cr-00133-VMC-MAP-2 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus NEHEMIAS LOPEZ-PEREZ, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida ________________________ (June 10, 2013) Before MARCUS, PRYOR and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Nehemias Lopez-Perez appeals his sentence of 33 months of imprisonment, following his pleas of guilty to one count of conspiring to transport 100 or more Case: 12-15076 Date Filed: 06/10/2013 Page: 2 of 3 illegal aliens, 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(v)(I), (a)(1)(B)(i), and two counts of transporting illegal aliens within the United States, id. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii), (a)(1)(B)(i); 18 U.S.C. § 2. Lopez-Perez argues that his sentence is unreasonable. We affirm. The district court did not abuse its discretion. The district court imposed a sentence at the low end of Lopez-Perez s recommended guideline range of 33 to 41 months, and we ordinarily expect such a sentence to be reasonable. See United States v. Hunt, 526 F.3d 739, 746 (11th Cir. 2008). Lopez-Perez requested a downward variance of 15 months, but the district court reasonably rejected the request because Lopez-Perez had been responsible for transporting at least 140 aliens after they entered the country illegally. The district court also reasonably determined that a sentence of 33 months of imprisonment would best serve the statutory purposes of sentencing. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Lopez-Perez argues that he was entitled to a lesser sentence because he had no criminal history, he was not a leader of the conspiracy, his offenses did not involve the typical aggravators that often accompanied smuggling operations, and he cooperated with authorities, but we are not persuaded that Lopez-Perez s sentence lies outside the range of reasonable sentences dictated by the facts of [his] case. United States v. Irey, 612 F.3d 1160, 1190 (11th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks omitted). The district court imposed the sentence that Lopez-Perez 2 Case: 12-15076 Date Filed: 06/10/2013 Page: 3 of 3 requested as an alternative to a sentence below the guidelines, and that sentence is reasonable. We AFFIRM Lopez-Perez s sentence. 3

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