UNITED STATES v. REISS (2020)

[Unpublished]

Police officers found Lucas Reiss walking around in circles in a stranger’s backyard, high on methamphetamine and carrying a loaded semi-automatic handgun. After he pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a felon, see 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2), the district court ¹ sentenced him to a within-Guidelines-range sentence of 108 months in prison. He claims that the sentence was substantively unreasonable. We affirm.

There was no abuse of discretion. See United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (discussing the standard of review); see also United States v. Deegan, 605 F.3d 625, 634 (8th Cir. 2010) (holding that a sentence within the advisory range is entitled to a “presumption of reasonableness”). The district court sufficiently considered the statutory sentencing factors, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), and although Reiss believes that it failed to account for several mitigating circumstances, the record shows otherwise. It treated some, like his extensive (yet nonviolent) criminal history, as aggravating. For others, such as his traumatic childhood, it simply gave them less weight than he would have liked. These choices were within its discretion. See United States v. Ryser, 883 F.3d 1018, 1022 (8th Cir. 2018).

We accordingly affirm the judgment of the district court.

FOOTNOTES

1.   The Honorable Greg Kays, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri.

PER CURIAM.