USA v. Yanner Arias, No. 16-16063 (11th Cir. 2021)
Annotate this CaseThis opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on October 5, 2017.
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USCA11 Case: 21-10972 Date Filed: 11/04/2021 Page: 1 of 3 [DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 21-10972 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus YANNIER ARIAS, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 8:15-cr-00328-SCB-AAS-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 21-10972 2 Date Filed: 11/04/2021 Opinion of the Court Page: 2 of 3 21-10972 Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, ROSENBAUM, and GRANT, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Yannier Arias, a federal prisoner, appeals pro se the sua sponte denial of his motion for compassionate release. 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). The district court ruled that Arias failed to identify extraordinary and compelling reasons for early release, see U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13 cmt n.1, and, in the alternative, that the statutory sentencing factors “weigh[ed] against granting [Arias’s] motion.” We affirm. Arias argues that his declaration that he risked contracting COVID-19 due to his asthma and obesity was sufficient to create an extraordinary and compelling reason to reduce his sentence and to require a response from the government, but we need not address those arguments because we can affirm on the alternative ground stated by the district court. Before we will reverse a “judgment that is based on multiple, independent grounds, an appellant must convince us that every stated ground for the judgment against him is incorrect.” Sapuppo v. Allstate Floridian Ins. Co., 739 F.3d 678, 680 (11th Cir. 2014). Arias does not dispute the finding that the nature and circumstances of his offense, his criminal history, and the danger he posed to the public weighed against his early release. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). The district court sentenced Arias for two counts of conspiring to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, id. § 371, nine counts of access device USCA11 Case: 21-10972 21-10972 Date Filed: 11/04/2021 Opinion of the Court Page: 3 of 3 3 fraud, id. §§ 2, 1029(a)(1), five counts of aggravated identity theft, id. §§ 2, 1028A, and one count of possessing more than fifteen counterfeit and unauthorized access devices, id. §§ 2, 1029(a)(3). When it denied Arias’s motion, the district court recounted that Arias had “misappropriat[ed] the means of identification of at least 10 actual persons, which he used to create counterfeit credit cards and to cause a loss of more than $150,000” “[w]hile [he was] on probation for committing petit theft in Florida.” And the district court highlighted that, “in [Arias’s] attempt to evade arrest for these criminal offenses, [he] endangered the public by leading officers on a high speed chase.” Because Arias fails to challenge the alternative ruling that the statutory sentencing factors weighed against granting him a sentence reduction, “it follows that the district court’s judgment is due to be affirmed.” Id. at 680. We AFFIRM the denial of Arias’s motion for compassionate release.
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