United States v. Lucas Reiss ( 2020 )

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
___________________________
No. 19-1415
___________________________
United States of America
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Lucas Reiss
Defendant - Appellant
____________
Appeal from United States District Court
for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City
____________
Submitted: February 10, 2020
Filed: May 12, 2020
[Unpublished]
____________
Before SMITH, Chief Judge, COLLOTON and STRAS, Circuit Judges.
____________
PER CURIAM.
Police officers found Lucas Reiss walking around in circles in a stranger’s
backyard, high on methamphetamine and carrying a loaded semi-automatic
handgun. After he pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a felon, see 18 U.S.C.
§§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2), the district court 1 sentenced him to a within-Guidelines-
range sentence of 108 months in prison. He claims that the sentence was
substantively unreasonable. We affirm.
There was no abuse of discretion. See United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d
455, 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (discussing the standard of review); see also
United States v. Deegan, 605 F.3d 625, 634 (8th Cir. 2010) (holding that a sentence
within the advisory range is entitled to a “presumption of reasonableness”). The
district court sufficiently considered the statutory sentencing factors, 18 U.S.C.
§ 3553(a), and although Reiss believes that it failed to account for several mitigating
circumstances, the record shows otherwise. It treated some, like his extensive (yet
nonviolent) criminal history, as aggravating. For others, such as his traumatic
childhood, it simply gave them less weight than he would have liked. These choices
were within its discretion. See United States v. Ryser, 883 F.3d 1018, 1022 (8th Cir.
2018).
We accordingly affirm the judgment of the district court.
______________________________
1
The Honorable Greg Kays, United States District Judge for the Western
District of Missouri.
-2-