United States v. Ryan Ravensborg , 776 F.3d 587 ( 2015 )


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  •                  United States Court of Appeals
    For the Eighth Circuit
    ___________________________
    No. 14-2060
    ___________________________
    United States of America
    lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee
    v.
    Ryan Devin Ravensborg
    lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant
    ____________
    Appeal from United States District Court
    for the District of Minnesota - St. Paul
    ____________
    Submitted: November 10, 2014
    Filed: January 14, 2015
    ____________
    Before MURPHY, MELLOY, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.
    ____________
    MURPHY, Circuit Judge.
    Ryan Ravensborg pled guilty to assault resulting in serious bodily injury in
    violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6). The district court1 sentenced Ravensborg to 41
    1
    The Honorable Michael J. Davis, Chief Judge, United States District Court
    for the District of Minnesota.
    months imprisonment.        Ravensborg appeals, challenging the substantive
    reasonableness of his sentence. We affirm.
    Ravensborg is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
    and a lifelong resident of the reservation. According to the presentence investigation
    report, Ravensborg had his first incident with the criminal law when he was arrested
    for misdemeanor robbery about a year after his father died from cancer in June 2012.
    He has also had a history of depression and mental illness.
    On the evening of May 25, 2013, Ravensborg attended a party at his sister's
    home on the Red Lake reservation. Early the next morning officers responded to an
    incident report from the home. Witnesses reported that Ravensborg had hit another
    man in the head with a piece of wood. The victim suffered a depressed skull fracture
    with intracerebral hemorrhage, fracture fragments, and intracranial arterial bleeding.
    He was first taken to the Red Lake Hospital and later airlifted to the Sanford Medical
    Center in Fargo, North Dakota for emergency surgery. His residual injuries included
    a loss of coordination and fine motor skills which required continuing physical
    therapy. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation assisted the Red Lake
    police with an investigation into the May 25 incident.
    Ravensborg was arrested in July 2013 and subsequently admitted that he had
    hit the victim with a piece of wood. Ravensborg was indicted and pled guilty to
    assault resulting in serious bodily injury, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6). The
    district court granted him release prior to his sentencing. The terms of Ravensborg's
    release specified that he must comply with supervision from pretrial services, refrain
    from using illegal controlled substances, and report all contact with law enforcement.
    Ravensborg violated the terms of his release by testing positive for marijuana on two
    separate occasions. He was also arrested by the Red Lake police for alleged assault
    and the stalking of his girlfriend. As a result the district court revoked Ravensborg's
    release.
    -2-
    The district court held Ravensborg's sentencing hearing on April 29, 2014. His
    plea agreement and the presentence investigation report had both calculated a
    guideline range of 33 to 41 months imprisonment. The court accepted that guideline
    range based on Ravensborg's offense level of 20 and criminal history category I.
    Ravensborg submitted a written sentencing memorandum and argued at the hearing
    for a downward variance based on his difficult personal circumstances. The district
    court sentenced him to a guideline term of 41 months imprisonment, having found a
    downward variance unwarranted because of the seriousness of the offense and
    Ravensborg's poor behavior on supervised release. Ravensborg appeals the
    substantive reasonableness of the district court's sentence.
    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). A "sentence which falls within the guideline range is presumed to
    be reasonable, and district courts are allowed a wide latitude to weigh the § 3553(a)
    factors in each case and assign some factors greater weight than others in determining
    an appropriate sentence." United States v. Callaway, 
    762 F.3d 754
    , 760 (8th Cir.
    2014) (internal quotation marks omitted). Here, the district court carefully examined
    each of the 3553(a) factors and heard both written and oral argument from the
    defendant before imposing a guideline sentence.
    Ravensborg argues that the sentencing court should have given more weight
    to mitigating factors, but a court may "give some factors less weight than a defendant
    prefers or more to other factors but that alone does not justify reversal.” United
    States v. Anderson, 
    618 F.3d 873
    , 883 (8th Cir. 2010). The district court concluded
    that Ravensborg's difficult personal circumstances did not outweigh the seriousness
    of the offense and his pretrial release violations.
    We conclude on the basis of this record that this is not a case to "reverse a
    district court sentence—whether within, above, or below the applicable Guidelines
    -3-
    range—as substantively unreasonable." 
    Feemster, 572 F.3d at 464
    . We affirm the
    judgment of the district court.
    ______________________________
    -4-
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 14-2060

Citation Numbers: 776 F.3d 587

Filed Date: 1/14/2015

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 1/12/2023