UNITED STATES v. ROY (2018)

SUMMARY ORDER

Defendant-appellant John D. Roy appeals from an amended judgment entered May 8, 2017, convicting him of possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon, and unlawful manufacture of, and possession with intent to distribute, 100 plants or more of marijuana. Roy contends on appeal that his sentence of 240 months’ imprisonment was substantively unreasonable. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, procedural history, and issues on appeal.

In 2008, a jury convicted Roy of unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (Count One), and unlawful manufacture of, and possession with intent to distribute, 100 plants or more of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B) (Count Two).

At Roy’s initial sentencing in April 2010, the district court (Burns, J.) determined that Roy was subject to the Armed Career Criminal Act (the “ACCA”), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), and sentenced him to 300 months’ imprisonment—240 months on Count One and 60 months on Count Two, to run consecutively. On appeal, this Court affirmed the convictions, but remanded for resentencing because Roy had represented himself at sentencing without the benefit of a full inquiry under Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975). United States v. Roy, 444 Fed.Appx. 480, 484 (2d Cir. 2011) (summary order). On remand, the district court again sentenced Roy to 300 months’ imprisonment. In 2013, this Court affirmed the sentence. United States v. Roy, 550 Fed.Appx. 17, 20 (2d Cir. 2013) (summary order).

In 2016, the Supreme Court decided Mathis v. United States, ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 2243, 195 L.Ed.2d 604 (2016), holding that a prior state conviction cannot qualify as a predicate violent felony under the ACCA “if its elements are broader than those of a listed generic offense[,] ․ regardless of whether a statute omits or instead specifies alternative possible means of commission.” Id. at 2251. Relying on Mathis, Roy sought to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. On December 21, 2016, with the consent of the government, the district court (Thompson, J.) granted the motion and ordered a resentencing.

On May 4, 2017, the district court resentenced Roy to 240 months’ imprisonment—120 months on Count One (the statutory maximum without the ACCA’s increased penalties) and 240 months on Count Two, to run concurrently. An amended judgment was entered May 8, 2017. Roy timely appealed.

Roy challenges only the substantive reasonableness of his sentence. See United States v. Cavera, 550 F.3d 180, 189 (2d Cir. 2008) (en banc); United States v. Verkhoglyad, 516 F.3d 122, 127 (2d Cir. 2008). We apply a “deferential abuse-of-discretion standard” to substantive review. Cavera, 550 F.3d at 189 (quoting Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007) ). We consider “the totality of the circumstances, giving due deference to the sentencing judge’s exercise of discretion․” Id. at 190. We will “set aside a district court’s substantive determination only in exceptional cases where the trial court’s decision ‘cannot be located within the range of permissible decisions.’ ” Id. at 189 (quoting United States v. Rigas, 490 F.3d 208, 238 (2d Cir. 2007) ) (emphasis in original). A sentence is substantively unreasonable if it would “damage the administration of justice because the sentence imposed was shockingly high.” United States v. Rigas, 583 F.3d 108, 123 (2d Cir. 2009).

Roy argues that his sentence is substantively unreasonable because (1) the district court “failed to give sufficient weight to [his] extraordinary post-sentence rehabilitation efforts” and (2) the sentence imposed on Count Two is substantially higher than sentences imposed in other marijuana cases in recent years, citing Sentencing Commission statistics. Def. Appellant Br. at 9, 17. We conclude that Roy’s sentence is not substantively unreasonable.

Roy’s first argument fails. The district court carefully considered and credited Roy’s evidence of post-sentence rehabilitation, but ultimately concluded that the rehabilitation efforts did not warrant the weight that Roy argued they deserved. A district court may but is not required to impose a lesser sentence based on post-sentence rehabilitation efforts. See Pepper v. United States, 562 U.S. 476, 490-91, 505 n.17, 131 S.Ct. 1229, 179 L.Ed.2d 196 (2011) (“[W]e do not mean to imply that a district court must reduce a defendant’s sentence upon any showing of postsentencing rehabilitation.”). The district court acted well within its discretion in not further lowering Roy’s sentence in light of his criminal history (which included at least 14 convictions and a return to criminal activity after serving more than 10 years in prison) and the seriousness of the defendant’s conduct (possession of nine firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and growing 136 marijuana plants). See United States v. Broxmeyer, 699 F.3d 265, 289 (2d Cir. 2012) (“The particular weight to be afforded aggravating and mitigating factors ‘is a matter firmly committed to the discretion of the sentencing judge.’ ” (quoting United States v. Fernandez, 443 F.3d 19, 32 (2d Cir. 2006) ) ).

As to Roy’s second argument, the district court’s decision to sentence Roy to 240 months’ imprisonment on Count Two was substantively reasonable. To support his argument, Roy cites only the Sentencing Commission statistics for “marijuana offenses,” which show that the average length of a marijuana sentence across the country is 32 months, with a median of 20 months. Def. Appellant Br. at 17. He also notes that the average in the District of Connecticut is only 13 months. The reliance on the marijuana statistics, however, is misplaced, as the district court employed a grouping analysis to calculate Roy’s sentencing range, and the range was driven more by the firearms offense (Count One) than by the marijuana offense (Count Two).

Moreover, Roy’s sentence was within the Guidelines range. The district court calculated Roy’s Guidelines range as 210 to 262 months. While we do not presume that a Guidelines sentence is reasonable, we do “recognize that in the overwhelming majority of cases, a Guidelines sentence will fall comfortably within the broad range of sentences that would be reasonable in the particular circumstances.” Fernandez, 443 F.3d at 27. In this case, based on the gravity of the offense conduct and the other factors considered by the district court, we cannot say the sentence imposed exceeds the “range of permissible decisions,” Rigas, 490 F.3d at 238, and, accordingly, we find that there was no abuse of discretion.

We have considered Roy’s remaining arguments and find them to be without merit. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the amended judgment of the district court.