United States of America v. Phillip Neal Jones, Jr.

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 22-1654
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United States of America
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Phillip Neal Jones, Jr.
Defendant - Appellant
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the District of Minnesota
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Submitted: January 9, 2023
Filed: March 14, 2023
[Unpublished]
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Before GRUENDER, BENTON, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
Phillip Jones, Jr., appeals his sentence for possession of a firearm by a felon.
See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Jones left a loaded gun in his apartment, and children
who were left alone there discovered it. One of them accidentally fired the gun,
killing a six-year-old boy. Jones pleaded guilty.

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Jones’s advisory sentencing guidelines range was 30 to 37 months’
imprisonment. Based on the fact that his crime involved the death of a young child,
his extensive criminal history, and his three prior felon-in-possession convictions,
the district court1 varied upward and sentenced him to 57 months’ imprisonment.
On appeal, Jones argues that his sentence is substantively unreasonable.
This is not “the unusual case when we reverse a district court sentence . . . as
substantively unreasonable.” See United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 464 (8th
Cir. 2009) (en banc). The district court has wide latitude to weigh the 18 U.S.C.
§ 3553(a) factors. United States v. Stephen, 984 F.3d 625, 633 (8th Cir. 2021). We
previously affirmed a much larger upward variance when a defendant’s dangerous
conduct endangered children. United States v. Godfrey, 863 F.3d 1088, 1092-94
(8th Cir. 2017). And we have affirmed substantial upward variances when a
defendant repeated his prior criminal conduct. See, e.g., United States v. David, 682
F.3d 1074, 1077-78 (8th Cir. 2012). Although Jones disagrees with how the district
court weighed the factors, the district court did not abuse its discretion by weighing
more heavily aggravating factors under § 3553(a) to vary upward. See Feemster,
572 F.3d at 461. We therefore affirm Jones’s sentence.
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1 The Honorable Paul A. Magnuson, United States District Judge for the
District of Minnesota.

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