United States of America v. Ronald Robinson

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
___________________________
No. 23-2709
___________________________
United States of America
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Ronald Robinson
Defendant - Appellant
____________
Appeal from United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis
____________
Submitted: April 8, 2024
Filed: May 30, 2024
[Unpublished]
____________
Before LOKEN, SHEPHERD, and KOBES, Circuit Judges.
____________
PER CURIAM.
After an argument with his girlfriend, Ronald Robinson ran off with her gun.
When he returned about an hour later, police arrested him. Robinson pleaded guilty
to possessing a gun as a convicted felon, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and the district

-- 1 of 2 --

-2-
court1 sentenced him to 71 months in prison—the top of his Guidelines range.
Robinson appeals, arguing that his sentence is substantively unreasonable.
We review the substantive reasonableness of a sentence for abuse of
discretion. United States v. Feemster, 572 F.3d 455, 461 (8th Cir. 2009) (en banc).
A district court abuses its discretion if it ignores “a relevant factor that should have
received significant weight,” “gives significant weight to an improper or irrelevant
factor,” or commits a clear error of judgment in weighing the appropriate factors.
United States v. Washington, 893 F.3d 1076, 1080 (8th Cir. 2018). Because
Robinson’s sentence is within the Guidelines range, we presume it is reasonable. Id.
Robinson does not rebut this presumption. The district court carefully
considered the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, and it reasonably concluded that 71
months in prison was appropriate based on Robinson’s criminal history and long list
of prison conduct violations. See § 3553(a)(1). Robinson argues that the court gave
too much weight to these factors and too little to a plethora of mitigating facts: he
gave the gun back soon after taking it; he experienced significant childhood trauma
like the murder of his brother, family violence, and exposure to lead; he spent 18
years in prison starting when he was a teenager; and he struggles with mental illness.
But this argument “amounts to nothing more than a disagreement with how the
district court chose to weigh the § 3553(a) factors in fashioning his sentence.”
United States v. Brown, 992 F.3d 665, 673 (8th Cir. 2021). That is not enough to
show that it is substantively unreasonable. Id.; see also Washington, 893 F.3d at
1080–81 (courts have “wide latitude to weigh the § 3553(a) factors in each case and
assign some factors greater weight than others in determining an appropriate
sentence” (citation omitted)).
We affirm Robinson’s sentence.
______________________________
1 The Honorable John A. Ross, United States District Judge for the Eastern
District of Missouri.

-- 2 of 2 --