United States v. Bowens ( 2021 )

Case: 20-61240 Document: 00515941262 Page: 1 Date Filed: 07/16/2021
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
July 16, 2021
No. 20-61240
Summary Calendar Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
United States of America,
Plaintiff—Appellee,
versus
Mack Arthur Bowens,
Defendant—Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Mississippi
USDC No. 2:00-CR-94-2
Before Smith, Stewart, and Graves, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam:*
Mack Arthur Bowens, now federal prisoner # 10964-042, was
convicted of four crack-distribution charges and one charge concerning
obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to serve 405 months in prison and
a five-year term of supervised release. Now, he appeals the district court’s
*
Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this
opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 20-61240 Document: 00515941262 Page: 2 Date Filed: 07/16/2021
No. 20-61240
denial of his requests for relief under the First Step Act of 2018 (FSA) and
for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A).
We review these denials for an abuse of discretion. United States v.
Chambliss, 948 F.3d 691, 693 (5th Cir. 2020); United States v. Jackson, 945
F.3d 315, 319 (5th Cir. 2019), cert. denied, 140 S. Ct. 2699 (2020). An abuse
of discretion occurs when the district court makes a legal error or relies on
clearly erroneous facts. Chambliss, 948 F.3d at 693. A factual finding is not
clearly erroneous if it is plausible when the record is considered as a whole.
United States v. Raney, 633 F.3d 385, 389 (5th Cir. 2011).
With respect to the denial of FSA relief, our review of the record
refutes Bowens’s assertions that the district court made erroneous factual
findings concerning his sentence, the amount of drugs involved with his
offenses, his acts of obstructing justice, and his violent history. The record
further shows that the district court properly considered the 18 U.S.C.
§ 3553(a) factors when analyzing this request. See Jackson, 945 F.3d at 322
& n.8. Our review shows no abuse of discretion in connection with the
district court’s denial of Bowens’s request for FSA relief. See Jackson, 945
F.3d at 319.
There was likewise no abuse of discretion in connection with the
district court’s denial of Bowens’s request for compassionate release. See
Chambliss, 948 F.3d at 693. While the district court referenced U.S.S.G.
§ 1B1.13 in its order, there is nothing in the record to indicate that it
erroneously felt bound by this Guideline and its commentary. See United
States v. Shkambi, 993 F.3d 388, 393 (5th Cir. 2021). Instead, the record
indicates that the district court simply found unpersuasive Bowens’s
argument that compassionate release was warranted due to his medical
conditions and the risk to his health posed by COVID-19.
Accordingly, the judgment is AFFIRMED.
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