United States v. Eubanks

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SAMMIE EUBANKS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 23-10948

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

January 17, 2024

DO NOT PUBLISH

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 7:21-cr-00049-WLS-TQL-1 Before NEWSOM, BRASHER, and HULL, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

After pleading guilty, Sammie Eubanks appeals his 57-month sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). At the time of his § 922(g) firearm offense in 2019 Eubanks was on state probation. The state court revoked Eubanks' probation and imposed a four-year state sentence, which he was still serving at the time of his federal sentencing in 2023.

At his federal sentencing, the district court imposed a 57-month sentence, within the advisory guidelines range of 51 to 63 months. The district court ordered that the 57-month sentence run concurrent to the undischarged portion of the state sentence (which had approximately six months left). On appeal, Eubanks argues his 57-month sentence is substantively unreasonable because the district court improperly weighed the sentencing factors, focused primarily on his criminal history, and failed to give adequate consideration to the more than three years he spent in custody before his federal sentencing, either in state custody or in federal pretrial detention. After review, we affirm Eubanks' sentence.

I. BACKGROUND FACTS

A. 2019 Offense Conduct and State Probation Revocation

In August 2019, police officers responded to reports of a domestic dispute at a residence in Valdosta, Georgia. During their investigation, officers encountered Eubanks, who matched the reported description of the man involved in the domestic dispute. Initially, Eubanks gave officers a fake name. Eubanks later admitted to the officers that he and his girlfriend had a verbal dispute.

As the officers questioned Eubanks, his girlfriend approached, and Eubanks began to back away. To prevent Eubanks from fleeing, the officers grabbed him and pulled him to the ground. While the officers struggled to place Eubanks in handcuffs, Eubanks threw a loaded firearm from his body to the ground. After restraining Eubanks, officers found bullets for the firearm in the backpack Eubanks was wearing.

At the time, Eubanks was a convicted felon. Specifically, in 2012, Eubanks pled guilty in Georgia state court to robbery by intimidation and aggravated assault. Eubanks was still on probation for these prior state convictions when in August 2019, the officers discovered the firearm and ammunition in his possession. As a result, in January 2020, Eubanks' state probation was revoked, and later he was ordered to serve four years in state prison.

B. 2022 Federal Charge and Guilty Plea

Meanwhile, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ("ATF") examined the firearm that was found in Eubanks' possession in August 2019. The ATF agents determined that the firearm was manufactured in California and therefore had traveled in interstate commerce to reach Georgia.

On October 14, 2021, a federal indictment was filed charging Eubanks with the current § 922(g) firearm offense. A federal arrest warrant was issued on October 14, 2021.

On June 7, 2022, Eubanks was arrested on the federal warrant at Wilcox State Prison. Pursuant to a writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum, Eubanks was moved to federal custody. At his initial appearance on June 9, Eubanks consented to pretrial detention in his federal case in light of the fact that he was still serving a state sentence anyway. Accordingly, the district court ordered Eubanks to be detained in federal custody pending trial.

In September 2022, Eubanks pled guilty as charged in the federal indictment without a plea agreement.

C. Presentence Investigation Report

Eubanks' presentence investigation report ("PSI") calculated a total offense level of 17 and a criminal history category of VI. Eubanks' criminal history category was based on eleven criminal history points for prior criminal convictions, including possession of marijuana, serious injury by vehicle, battery-family violence, and criminal trespass in addition to the 2012 robbery by intimidation and aggravated assault convictions.

Pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1(d), the PSI added two more criminal history points because Eubanks committed the current § 922(g) firearm offense while on probation for the 2012 Georgia convictions. The resulting advisory guidelines range was 51 to 63 months' imprisonment.

Eubanks did not object to the PSI's facts or guidelines calculations.

D. 2023 Sentencing

At Eubanks' March 2, 2023 sentencing, the district court confirmed that Eubanks had no objection to the PSI. The district court determined that the advisory guidelines range was 51 to 63 months, as calculated by the PSI.

The government requested a sentence at the top of the advisory guidelines range, citing Eubanks' criminal history, which included convictions for violent crimes and prior violations of state probation, and Eubanks' provision of a fake name to officers before the firearm and ammunition were discovered.

During allocution, Eubanks accepted full responsibility for his actions and asked the court for compassion, stating that he was "not the same person" he was in 2019, when he was first arrested for violating his state probation.

Eubanks asked for a 40-month sentence, a variance below the guidelines range. In mitigation, Eubanks stressed that: (1) his verbal dispute with his girlfriend was non-violent and did not involve the firearm; (2) he had a difficult upbringing and lost his birth parents to incarceration at an early age; (3) the majority of his past criminal conduct and probation violations occurred when he was 18 or 19 years old; (4) while previously incarcerated, he obtained his GED; (5) he had an eleven-year-old daughter he wanted to build a relationship with upon his release; and (6) during his almost four years in state custody since his 2019 arrest, Eubanks had "done a lot of self-reflection," had matured, and had not smoked marijuana or taken any other drugs.

At his March 2, 2023 sentencing, Eubanks also pointed out that he was still serving his state sentence, which had approximately six months remaining. Eubanks asked the district court to run his federal sentence concurrently so that he could go "straight into federal custody where he'll be able to take advantage of whatever programs the [Federal] Bureau of Prisons has . . . that will help him when he gets out on supervised release." Eubanks also asked the district court to consider the fact that he had "been in custody for the past three years and seven months" and that, although his offense occurred in August 2019, he was not brought to federal court until June 2022.

After considering the PSI, the advisory guidelines range, and the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors, the district court imposed a 57-month sentence. The district court explained that it was "struck" by the fact that, while most of Eubanks' prior criminal conduct took place earlier in his life, he was "only 29 now" and was at a criminal history category VI, the highest category. The district court also stressed that some of Eubanks' prior offenses were "pretty serious and resulted in harm," including a vehicular offense in which the struck pedestrian lost the use of his legs. The court highlighted Eubanks' state probation violations, including one for failing to comply with compulsory anger management treatment and stated that "looking across [Eubanks'] cases anger was clearly a contributory factor to some of [his] conduct."

The district court expressed concern that Eubanks' current offense stemmed from a domestic dispute, noting that domestic disturbances can often "turn into something . . . much bigger or worse." The court acknowledged, however, that Eubanks did not use the firearm during his dispute with his girlfriend and that Eubanks had "admitted [he] had no business with a firearm." The district court stated that although a sentence at the top of the advisory guidelines range could easily be justified, a "midlevel sentence" was appropriate given Eubanks' forthrightness and acceptance of responsibility.

As for Eubanks' request to run his federal sentence concurrent to the state sentence he was still serving, the district court recognized that Eubanks had been in state custody since 2019. The court stated that Eubanks should be punished for his federal crime "independent of and not necessarily overlapping of the other conduct for which you've been in custody." The district court ordered Eubanks' 57-month sentence to run "concurrent as of the entry of [the federal] judgment."

Further, the district court clarified that the federal sentence was "not intended to relate back to the beginning of [Eubanks'] state sentence," but instead would "overlap that remaining part of [his] sentence that [he] might have in state custody." The district court opined that "in view of that [state] sentence expected to be ended this year . . . there's adequate remaining sentence under the federal sentence that takes into account adequate[] punishment for the federal offense." Eubanks objected to the substantive reasonableness of his sentence.

On March 6, 2023, the district court entered the judgment ordering Eubanks' 57-month sentence "to run concurrent to the undischarged terms of imprisonment" imposed by the Georgia court in his 2012 criminal case for his 2019 violation of probation, "beginning from the entry of this [federal] judgement [sic]."

II. DISCUSSION

A. Substantive Reasonableness

"We review the substantive reasonableness...