US v. Jason Smith

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 2:10-cr-00007-jpj-pms-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998625926].. [11-4167]

Appeal: 11-4167

Document: 23

Date Filed: 07/06/2011

Page: 1 of 3

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 11-4167

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
JASON SMITH,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Big Stone Gap.
James P. Jones,
District Judge. (2:10-cr-00007-jpj-pms-1)

Submitted:

June 30, 2011

Decided:

July 6, 2011

Before WILKINSON, DUNCAN, and WYNN, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Larry W. Shelton, Federal Public Defender, Nancy C. Dickenson,
Assistant Federal Public Defender, Christine Madeleine Lee,
Research
and
Writing
Attorney,
Abingdon,
Virginia,
for
Appellant. Timothy J. Heaphy, United States Attorney, Debbie H.
Stevens, Special Assistant United States Attorney, Abingdon,
Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

Appeal: 11-4167

Document: 23

Date Filed: 07/06/2011

Page: 2 of 3

PER CURIAM:
Jason Smith pled guilty to possession of a prohibited
weapon in prison, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1791(a)(2) (2006).
The

district

court

sentenced

him

to

forty-two

months’

imprisonment, twelve months above the advisory Guidelines range.
On

appeal,

Smith

asserts

that

his

sentence

is

unreasonable

because it is longer than necessary to achieve the goals of
sentencing and the district court’s explanation did not justify
the extent of the variance.
This
applying
States,

an

court

abuse

552

U.S.

of
38,

We affirm.

reviews

a

sentence

for

discretion

see

Gall

standard.

51

(2007);

also

Llamas, 599 F.3d 381, 387 (4th Cir. 2010).

reasonableness,

United

v.

United

States

v.

This review requires

appellate consideration of both the procedural and substantive
reasonableness of a sentence.

Gall, 552 U.S. at 51.

Smith does

not challenge the procedural reasonableness of his sentence.

In

assessing

we

“tak[e]

the
into

including
range.’”

the

substantive
account
extent

the
of

reasonableness
‘totality
any

of

variance

of

the

the
from

sentence,

circumstances,
the

Guidelines

United States v. Pauley, 511 F.3d 468, 473 (4th Cir.

2007) (quoting Gall, 552 U.S. at 51).

Although no presumption

of reasonableness attends a district court’s variance sentence,
our review still is through the deferential lens of abuse of
discretion.

Gall, 552 U.S. at 50-51.
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Appeal: 11-4167

Document: 23

Date Filed: 07/06/2011

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Smith’s conviction followed an apparently unprovoked
assault on another inmate using a padlock attached to a belt,
which resulted in the victim suffering a fractured skull and a
subdural

hematoma.

The

district

court

assumed,

as

Smith

alleged, that the victim had raped him several months before the
assault.

The court, however, did not credit Smith’s testimony

that, immediately before the attack, the victim was armed and an
attack was imminent.

The court further observed that Smith had

other options besides self-help and that his desire to avoid a
reputation

for

complaining

eschewing

these

options.

to

prison

Smith’s

staff

history

did
of

not

justify

misconduct

in

prison, coupled with the violent nature of the attack, led the
court to vary upwards.

We conclude that, under the totality of

the circumstances,

district

the

court’s

explanation

justified

the extent of the variance and that the court did not abuse its
discretion in imposing a forty-two-month sentence.
Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s judgment.
dispense

with

oral

argument

because

the

facts

and

We

legal

contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the
court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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