USA v. Gonzalez-Camacho, No. 07-40671 (5th Cir. 2008)
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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED No. 07-40671 Summary Calendar November 25, 2008 Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Plaintiff-Appellee v. RICARDO GONZALES-CAMACHO Defendant-Appellant Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 5:06-CR-1341-1 Before KING, DENNIS, and OWEN, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* Ricardo Gonzalez-Camacho appeals the 188-month sentence imposed following his jury trial conviction of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A); possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A) and 18 U.S.C. § 2; and importation of more than five kilograms of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952(a), 960(b)(1) and 18 U.S.C. 2. Gonzalez-Camacho s sentence was within * Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4. No. 07-40671 a properly calculated advisory guidelines range that reflected the quantity of drugs for which he was held accountable as well as an enhancement for obstruction of justice. Following United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), we review a district court s sentencing decisions for reasonableness in light of the sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Gall v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 586, 596-97 (2007). First, we consider whether the sentence imposed is procedurally sound. Id. at 597. Thereafter, we consider whether the sentence is substantively reasonable, using an abuse-of-discretion standard. Id. A sentence imposed within a properly calculated guideline range is entitled to a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness. Rita v. United States, 127 S. Ct. 2456, 2462 (2007); United States v. Alonzo, 435 F.3d 551, 554 (5th Cir. 2006). Gonzalez-Camacho first contends that Gall v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 586, 596 (2007), and Kimbrough v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 558 (2007), which issued after his sentencing, abrogated the rationale of previous Fifth Circuit decisions by broadening the district court s discretion to impose a nonguidelines sentence. He argues, therefore, that the sentencing court labored under a misconception that it could not sentence him below the Guidelines in the absence of extraordinary circumstances or based on the court s disagreement with guidelines policy. Because this theory was not argued in the district court, we review for plain error. See Campos-Maldonado, 531 F.3d 337, 339 (5th Cir.), petition for cert. filed (Aug. 20, 2008) (No. 08-5988). Nothing in the record suggests that the district court was constrained by this court s precedent from considering all of Gonzalez-Camacho s arguments for a nonguidelines sentence. Accordingly, there was no plain error. See id. Citing the Supreme Court s decisions in Kimbrough v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 558, 575 (2007), and Rita, 127 S. Ct. at 2462, Gonzalez-Camacho next argues that the within-guidelines sentence imposed in his case should not be 2 No. 07-40671 accorded a presumption of reasonableness. Gonzalez-Camacho contends that the justification for applying a presumption of reasonableness in his case is undercut because U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, the Guideline used to calculate his advisory sentencing guidelines range, was not promulgated according to usual Sentencing Commission procedures and did not take into account empirical data and national experience. Gonzalez-Camacho portrays the Kimbrough decision as having suggested that the appellate presumption should not be applied to Guidelines that did not take account of this data and experience. Our reading of Kimbrough does not reveal any such suggestion. The question presented in Kimbrough was whether a sentence . . . outside the guidelines range is per se unreasonable when it is based on a disagreement with the sentencing disparity for crack and powder cocaine offenses. 128 S. Ct. at 564. Speaking specifically to the crack cocaine Guidelines, the Court simply ruled that it would not be an abuse of discretion for a district court to conclude when sentencing a particular defendant that the crack/powder disparity yields a sentence greater than necessary to achieve § 3553(a) s purposes, even in a mine-run case. Id. at 575. In Kimbrough, the Court said nothing of the applicability of the presumption of reasonableness. The appellate presumption is therefore applicable in this case. After reviewing for procedural errors and considering the substantive reasonableness of the sentence, we hold that Gonzalez-Camacho s appellate arguments fail to establish that his sentence is unreasonable. Accordingly, the district court s judgment is AFFIRMED. 3
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