USA v. Ka'Deem Sheppard-Sankey

[DO NOT PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 22-13545
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
KA’DEEM I. SHEPPARD-SANKEY,
Defendant-Appellant.
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Alabama
D.C. Docket No. 2:22-cr-00024-WKW-SMD-1
____________________
Before WILSON, G RANT, and L AGOA , Circuit Judges.
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2 Opinion of the Court 22-13545
PER CURIAM:
Ka’Deem Sheppard-Sankey pleaded guilty to one count of
possession of a firearm while under indictment for a felony offense,
in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(n). At his sentencing hearing, the
district court applied a four-level enhancement for possessing that
firearm in connection with another felony offense—specifically,
drug trafficking. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines § 2K2.1(b)(6)(B).
The district court ultimately imposed a sentence of 42-months’
imprisonment, a downward variance from the Guidelines range,
which was 51 to 60 months.
On appeal, Sheppard-Sankey challenges his sentence for
both procedural and substantive reasonableness. On the
procedural front, he argues that the district court erred by finding
that he was engaged in drug trafficking at the time he possessed the
firearm. But when police arrested Sheppard-Sankey after a lengthy,
high-speed chase, they found a pistol behind the passenger seat of
the vehicle he was driving next to a backpack that contained 2.8
ounces of marijuana, several digital scales, and two loaded rifle
magazines. A search of his home uncovered packaging for illegal
narcotics and another scale in a storage shed, as well as loose
ammunition and several more loaded magazines in his bedroom.
Finally, an FBI agent testified at the sentencing hearing that
Sheppard-Sankey’s cellphone contained several recent text
messages arranging drug deals with customers, as well as several
undated photographs of, among other things, Sheppard-Sankey
displaying firearms and offering marijuana and other drugs for sale.
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22-13545 Opinion of the Court 3
This was more than enough evidence for the district court to
conclude by a preponderance that Sheppard-Sankey possessed a
firearm in connection with drug trafficking. The § 2K2.1(b)(6)(B)
enhancement was not erroneous.
Sheppard-Sankey next argues that his 42-month sentence is
substantively unreasonable. But the district court properly
considered the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors and imposed a sentence
that it concluded was sufficient but not greater than necessary to
accomplish the purposes of criminal sentencing. Though
Sheppard-Sankey complains on appeal that certain mitigating
factors were not given due weight, the district court varied its
sentence downward from the Guidelines range in reliance on those
very factors. We see no error.
AFFIRMED.
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