United States v. Pyles, 14-3069

• Decision Date: 07 July 2017
• Docket Number: No. 14-3069,14-3069
• Citation: 862 F.3d 82
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee v. Chad PYLES, Appellant
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

862 F.3d 82

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee

v.Chad PYLES, Appellant

No. 14-3069

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued October 20, 2016

Decided July 7, 2017

John A. Briley Jr., appointed by the court, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant.

Jennifer Loeb, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the cause for appellee. On the brief were Elizabeth Trosman and Ann K.H. Simon, Assistant U.S. Attorneys.

Before: Wilkins, Circuit Judge, and Edwards and Williams, Senior Circuit Judges.

Dissenting opinion filed by Senior Circuit Judge Williams.

Wilkins, Circuit Judge:

Pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, 18 U.S.C. § 3551 et seq. , the District Court must, at the time of sentencing, "state in open court the reasons for its imposition of [a] particular sentence." 18 U.S.C. § 3553(c). This provision mandates that the District Court offer a "reasoned basis" for its decision and "consider[ ]" all non-frivolous mitigation arguments. Rita v. United S t ates , 551 U.S. 338, 356, 127 S.Ct. 2456, 168 L.Ed.2d 203 (2007).

Chad Pyles challenges his 132-month sentence on the basis that the District Court did not consider each and every one of his non-frivolous mitigation arguments before imposing judgment. Specifically, Pyles contends that the District Court failed to consider that: (1) Pyles' criminal conduct stemmed from his history of childhood abuse; and (2) the child pornography Sentencing Guidelines do not adequately consider the individual characteristics of each defendant. Pyles argues that the District Court failed to respond explicitly to these two arguments on the record, and that such non-response should be construed as non-consideration and, therefore, error under Rita and its progeny.

Because Pyles failed to object to the alleged non-consideration at sentencing, though he had every opportunity, we review his claim for plain error. FED. R. CRIM. P. 52(b). As the Supreme Court held in Rita , the District Court is not required to produce "a full opinion in every case," and need not expressly address each and every mitigation argument advanced by the defendant. 551 U.S. at 356, 127 S.Ct. 2456. Rather, so long as the judge provides a "reasoned basis for exercising his own legal decisionmaking authority," we will presume that he or she adequately considered all arguments and uphold the sentence if it is otherwise reasonable. Id. Pyles' claim that the District Court is required to respond explicitly to every non-frivolous mitigation argument appears nowhere in our caselaw; indeed the exact same claim was rejected by the Supreme Court in Rita . Accordingly, any purported error was not "so ‘plain’ the trial judge and prosecutor were derelict in countenancing it, even absent the defendant's timely assistance in detecting it," United States v. Saro , 24 F.3d 283, 286 (D.C. Cir. 1994) (quoting United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 163, 102 S.Ct. 1584, 71 L.Ed.2d 816 (1982) ), and we find that the District Court committed no "obvious," or plain, error in this case. United States v. Olano , 507 U.S. 725, 734, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993).

I.

The facts of this case mirror the oft-told news story of an undercover detective who uses an online chat room to thwart the sexual abuse of minors. In August and September 2013, Pyles communicated with Timothy Palchak, an undercover Metropolitan Police Detective (the "Detective"), regarding Pyles' sexual interest in minors. During e-mail conversations, Pyles distributed over the Internet five images of child pornography, three of which were sadomasochistic in nature. Later, Pyles and the Detective agreed to meet and have sex with two underage girls. Pyles traveled interstate to Washington, D.C. for this purpose, where he was promptly arrested. A consent search of Pyles' computer revealed four additional videos of child pornography. In light of this evidence, the Government charged Pyles with two counts of criminal conduct: (1) traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual acts in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b) ; and (2) knowingly distributing child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B).¹

After reviewing the case, the District Court ordered Pyles to undergo psychological and psychosexual examination to determine if he was a pedophile and to gauge his propensity for recidivism. The psychologist diagnosed Pyles with pedophilia on a provisional basis, severe substance use disorder, and antisocial personality disorder.

In particular, the psychologist explained that Pyles refused to acknowledge he had a problem or needed treatment, and downplayed the severity of his actions. With regard to Pyles' risk of recidivism, the psychologist noted that if Pyles participated in and completed a substance abuse program and a sex offender treatment program, his likelihood of recidivism was low. However, a failure to start or complete either of the programs would result in a moderate to high risk of recidivism.

Following the psychological exam, the District Court convened a sentencing hearing on September 30, 2014. The parties jointly recommended a sentence of 87 months imprisonment. This recommendation, however, was based on a miscalculation during plea negotiations of Pyles' offense level at 28, which corresponds to an incarceration term of 78 to 97 months under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. When the District Court identified the proper offense level, the parties agreed that the revised Guidelines range was 108- to 135-months' imprisonment. Nonetheless, the parties continued to advocate for an 87-month term. In particular, Pyles presented six mitigation arguments, including the two at issue in this case: (1) the Sentencing Guidelines arbitrarily increased the base offense levels and enhancements for child pornography without taking into account individualized conduct; and (2) as a child, Pyles was subjected to adult pornography and was sexually abused by older teenagers.

The District Court, however, was unconvinced that a below-Guidelines sentence should apply. When the parties recommended 87-months' imprisonment, the District Court noted that this would be a downward variance, which was an "extraordinary request." J.A. 122. Specifically, the judge explained that "the variance downward has to be consistent with the [section] 3553 factors" and, given the facts, he was "hard-pressed to see how that could possibly be the case here." J.A. 115; see 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).

In particular, the judge cautioned that the seriousness of Pyles' behavior should not be taken lightly, especially given Pyles' willingness to use the Internet for pornography and sexual communications, and physically travel to have sexual intercourse with a minor. The judge also referenced the sadomasochistic images and videos contained on Pyles' computer. Further, the judge noted that Pyles' decision to plead guilty was only because he had been caught "red-handed," and the Government offered him a "huge break" by reducing his charge from distribution of pornographic material to possession. The judge also cited the "distressing" nature of the psychiatric report and, in particular, the fact that Pyles refused to acknowledge that he has a problem and needs treatment. The judge concluded that Pyles' refusal to engage in sex offender management programs at the prison increased his risk for recidivism from low to moderate/high.

Moreover, the District Court expressed skepticism towards Pyles' Sentencing Guidelines argument. Pyles claimed that the child pornography guidelines, U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2, arbitrarily increased the base offense levels and enhancements for defendants regardless of their individual characteristics and the severity of each crime. However, contrary to Pyles' contentions, the District Court did not reflexively rely on the Guidelines range, but rather evaluated Pyles' specific conduct and the risk that he posed to the community. Indeed, the Government conceded at the hearing that this was quite a serious case, and that "[w]hen someone travels, acts on these urges, travels interstate to have sex with the child, ... there's no reason to vary from the guidelines." J.A. 117. Thus, the Government noted that while there might be a legitimate argument that the child pornography guidelines were too high in some circumstances, the guidelines for the travel count were "too low." J.A. 119. This concession prompted the judge to respond that the Guidelines argument supported, at best, a sentence of 108 months—the bottom of the applicable Guidelines range—but that it was "not an argument" that would support going below the Guidelines range to 87 months. Later, the judge added that the criticisms of the child pornography guidelines were weak in this case where Pyles' offense involved images of prepubescent children, sadomasochistic images, and distribution of images rather than mere possession. Accordingly, the judge imposed a sentence of 132-months imprisonment.

Pyles appealed the District Court's sentence on October 15, 2014. His primary argument on appeal is that the District Court provided no explanation regarding its rejection of his mitigation arguments. Rather, Pyles contends, the District Court improperly focused on the seriousness of the offense and the need for punishment. We have jurisdiction to review this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a).

II.

Our review raises two interrelated questions. First, did Pyles sufficiently preserve his claim of error to trigger abuse of discretion review, or is our analysis limited to plain error? Unsurprisingly, Pyles argues that the correct standard is abuse of discretion, Appellant Br. 7-8, while the Government contends that this Court's review is restricted to plain error, Appellee Br. 18. As explained below, we find that the appropriate standard is plain error. Second, was there plain error? Because we find that Pyles has not shown that it was an obvious error for the District Court to fail to expressly state...