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UNITED STATES v. SCHULTZ (2021)

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.2021-07-15No. No. 20-2419, No. 20-2421

Summary

Holding. The court affirmed the 135-month sentence, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in varying upward from the guidelines range based on the seriousness of the offenses, victim impact, criminal history, and deterrence, and that the court adequately considered Schultz's drug addiction and mental health issues before reasonably weighing aggravating factors against mitigating ones.

Christopher Schultz pleaded guilty to multiple counts of armed and unarmed bank robbery committed over a four-month period. At sentencing, the district court calculated a guidelines range of 92 to 115 months but imposed a sentence of 135 months, finding the guidelines range insufficient. Schultz appealed, claiming his sentence was substantively unreasonable.

The court rejected all three of Schultz's arguments. First, the court held that even though factors like the seriousness of the robberies, victim impact, criminal history, and deterrence needs were already reflected in the guidelines calculation, a district court may still rely on those factors to justify an upward variance. Second, the court assumed the district court considered Schultz's drug addiction and mental health issues because Schultz raised them during sentencing and the presentence report—which the judge reviewed—contained information about his mental-health history. Third, the court found no clear error in the judge's decision to weigh the aggravating circumstances more heavily than Schultz's mitigating factors.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether factors already incorporated in the guidelines range may support an upward variance
  • Whether a district court must explicitly mention every relevant factor to demonstrate consideration of it
  • Whether the district court abused its discretion in weighing aggravating and mitigating factors

Procedural posture

Schultz appealed from a sentence imposed by the district court that exceeded the advisory sentencing guidelines range.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

[Unpublished]

Christopher Schultz pleaded guilty to three counts of armed bank robbery and two counts of bank robbery after robbing several banks over the course of about four months. See 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), (d). By the time of sentencing, Schultz was forty-two years old and had a criminal history dating back twenty-one years. At sentencing, the district court calculated a criminal-history category of IV and a total offense level of 26, yielding an advisory sentencing guidelines range of 92 to 115 months’ imprisonment. Finding a sentence within this range inadequate, the district court

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varied upward and sentenced Schultz to 135 months’ imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently. Schultz appeals, arguing that his sentence is substantively unreasonable. We affirm.

We review the substantive reasonableness of a sentence under a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc). “In conducting this review, we are to take into account the totality of the circumstances, including the extent of any variance from the Guidelines range.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). “[W]e are not permitted to apply a presumption of unreasonableness if the sentence is outside the Guidelines range.” Id. “Instead, we may consider the extent of the deviation, but must give due deference to the district courts decision that the § 3553(a) factors, on a whole, justify the extent of the variance.” Id. at 461-62 (internal quotation marks omitted). “[I]t will be the unusual case when we reverse a district court sentence—whether within, above, or below the applicable Guidelines range—as substantively unreasonable.” Id. at 464.

Schultz argues that the district court abused its discretion in varying upward because its cited reasons had already been considered in determining Schultzs guidelines range. True, in deciding to vary upward, the district court considered the § 3553(a) factors and noted, among other things, the seriousness of Schultzs robbery offenses, the fear engendered in Schultzs victims, Schultzs criminal history, and the special need for adequate deterrence given that Schultz had a criminal history spanning twenty-one years. But even assuming that these factors already had been considered in the calculation of Schultzs guidelines range, they “can nevertheless form the basis of a variance.” See United States v. David, 682 F.3d 1074, 1077 (8th Cir. 2012). The district court thus did not abuse its discretion by considering these factors in deciding to vary upward.

Schultz also argues that the district court abused its discretion because it did not consider his drug addictions and mental health. Though a district courts failure “to consider a relevant [§ 3553(a)] factor that should have received significant weight” constitutes an abuse of discretion, Feemster, 572 F.3d at 461, this did not happen here. We assume a district court considered factors of which it was aware, such as those brought to its attention during sentencing, see United States v. Keating, 579 F.3d 891, 893-94 (8th Cir. 2009), and we do not require a district court to mention specifically every factor it considered. See United States v. Diaz-Pellegaud, 666 F.3d 492, 504 (8th Cir. 2012). Here, Schultz himself mentioned his drug addiction during his sentencing hearing, and the district court said it reviewed the Presentence Investigation Report in its entirety, which discussed Schultzs mental-health history. See United States v. Delao-Navarrete, 365 F. Appx 731, 732 (8th Cir. 2010) (per curiam) (noting that the district court considered certain facts because the Presentence Investigation Report, which the district court had reviewed, included them). Thus, we assume that the district court considered Schultzs drug addictions and mental health in determining his sentence, meaning it did not abuse its discretion by failing to consider them.

Finally, Schultz argues that the district court abused its discretion because the drug-addiction and mental-health mitigating factors he identifies merited a lower sentence. Though a district court abuses its discretion if it commits a “clear error of judgment” in weighing the appropriate factors, Feemster, 572 F.3d at 461, we see no clear error of judgment here. The district court reasonably concluded that the various aggravating factors noted above outweighed these mitigating factors. While Schultz “disagrees with the courts balancing of the relevant considerations,” he has not shown that the court abused “its broad discretion” in weighing the appropriate factors. See United States v. Ruiz-Salazar, 785 F.3d 1270, 1273 (8th Cir. 2015).

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm.

FOOTNOTES

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.   The Honorable John A. Jarvey, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

PER CURIAM.