United States v. Meals ( 2023 )

Case: 23-10554 Document: 00516914982 Page: 1 Date Filed: 09/29/2023
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit
____________
United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
No. 23-10554
Summary Calendar FILED
____________ September 29, 2023
Lyle W. Cayce
United States of America, Clerk
Plaintiff—Appellee,
versus
David Lewis Meals, Jr.,
Defendant—Appellant.
______________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Texas
USDC No. 4:13-CR-23-1
______________________________
Before Jones, Southwick, and Ho, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam: *
David Lewis Meals, Jr., federal prisoner # 40910-280, appeals the
denial of his motion to further reduce his 225-month sentence for possession
with intent to distribute a controlled substance, filed pursuant to 18 U.S.C.
§ 3582(c)(2). The district court previously granted Meals a reduction based
upon Amendment 782 to the Sentencing Guidelines. Meals contends that
_____________________
*
This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-10554 Document: 00516914982 Page: 2 Date Filed: 09/29/2023
No. 23-10554
the district court’s decision that the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors
did not warrant a further sentence reduction for his methamphetamine
offense was an abuse of discretion.
Contrary to Meals’s argument, the district court considered his
arguments for a lower sentence but concluded that pertinent sentencing
factors of § 3553(a) did not weigh in favor of a further reduction. See United
States v. Evans, 587 F.3d 667, 673 (5th Cir. 2009). Because the district court
was not obligated to reduce Meals’s sentence at all, the district court did not
have to reduce it further than it did within the recalculated guidelines range.
See id. Meals’s argument amounts to a disagreement with the court’s
balancing of the § 3553(a) sentencing factors, which is not sufficient to
demonstrate an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Lopez-Velasquez, 526
F.3d 804, 807 (5th Cir. 2008).
AFFIRMED.
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