United States of America v. Davonte Andrews

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 23-1788
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United States of America
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Davonte Andrews
Defendant - Appellant
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the District of Nebraska - Omaha
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Submitted: December 11, 2023
Filed: February 12, 2024
[Unpublished]
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Before ERICKSON, MELLOY, and STRAS, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
After pleading guilty to distributing child pornography, see 18 U.S.C.
§ 2252(a)(2), (b)(1), Davonte Andrews received a 130-month prison sentence. He
argues the sentence is substantively unreasonable because it is 10 months longer than
what the parties jointly recommended.

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We conclude otherwise, in large part because the district court1 had no
obligation to stick to the parties’ recommendation. See United States v. Gasaway,
684 F.3d 804, 806, 808 (8th Cir. 2012) (affirming the substantive reasonableness of
a sentence nearly double the government’s request). Nor did it need to place greater
weight on the mitigating factors than it thought they deserved. See United States v.
Moua, 895 F.3d 556, 560 (8th Cir. 2018) (per curiam). The point is that, having
decided to vary downward, the court had the discretion to decide how low to go. See
United States v. Matheny, 42 F.4th 837, 847 (8th Cir. 2022). We accordingly affirm
the judgment of the district court.
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1 The Honorable Brian C. Buescher, United States District Judge for the
District of Nebraska.

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