In United States v. Gomez, No. 19-10609 (Apr. 14,
2020) (Rosenbaum, Jill Pryor, Branch) (per curiam), the Court affirmed the defendant’s
sentences.
The Court clarified that, where no challenge is made to the district
court’s legal authority, the decision to run sentences consecutively is
reviewed for abuse of discretion under 3553(a). The Court found that a 46-month guideline-range
sentence for ill re-entry, run consecutively with a low-end 21-month sentence
for a violation of supervised release, was not substantively unreasonable. Based on the particular facts of this case, the Court rejected the arguments that the
district court failed to properly consider the deterrent effect of prior
sentence for sexual battery or that it was already factored in to his guideline
range.
