USA v. Ramiro Burgos, Jr.

[DO NOT PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 21-12266
Non-Argument Calendar
____________________
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
RAMIRO BURGOS, JR.,
a.k.a. Junior,
Defendant-Appellant.
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
D.C. Docket No. 1:11-cr-20413-PAS-2
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2 Opinion of the Court 21-12266
____________________
Before R OSENBAUM , JILL PRYOR , and BLACK , Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Ramiro Burgos, Jr., a federal prisoner proceeding
pro se, ap-
peals the district court’s denial of his counseled motion for compas-
sionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). Burgos asserts the
district court erred in denying his motion because it was allowed
to consider intervening changes of law and fact in reducing his sen-
tence, and because he established extraordinary and compelling
reasons for his release. The Government, in turn, has moved for
summary affirmance and to stay the briefing schedule, arguing that
Burgos failed to show he was entitled to relief. After review,1 we
grant the Government’s motion.
District courts lack the inherent authority to modify a term
of imprisonment but may do so within § 3582(c)’s provisions.
18 U.S.C. § 3582(c). As amended by § 603(b) of the First Step Act,
§ 3582(c) now provides, in relevant part, that:
[t]he court, upon motion of the Director of the Bu-
reau of Prisons [BOP], or upon motion of the defend-
ant after the defendant has fully exhausted all
1 We review
de novo a district court’s determination about a defendant’s eli-
gibility for an 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c) sentence reduction.
United States v. Bryant,
996 F.3d 1243, 1251 (11th Cir. 2021). We review a district court’s denial of a
prisoner’s 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) motion under an abuse of discretion stand-
ard.
United States v. Harris, 989 F.3d 908, 911 (11th Cir. 2021).
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21-12266 Opinion of the Court 3
administrative rights to appeal a failure of the [BOP]
to bring a motion on the defendant’s behalf or the
lapse of 30 days from the receipt of such a request by
the warden of the defendant’s facility, whichever is
earlier, may reduce the term of imprisonment . . . af-
ter considering the factors set forth in [18 U.S.C.
§] 3553(a) to the extent that they are applicable
if it
finds that . . . extraordinary and compelling reasons
warrant such a reduction . . . and that such a reduction
is consistent with applicable policy statements issued
by the Sentencing Commission . . . .
18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i) (emphasis added).
Section 1B1.13 of the Sentencing Guidelines provides the ap-
plicable policy statement for compassionate release motions and
§ 3582(c)(1)(A). U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13. The application notes to
U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13 list four categories of extraordinary and compel-
ling reasons: (A) the defendant’s medical condition, (B) his age,
(C) his family circumstances, and (D) other reasons.
Id., comment.
(n.1(A)–(D)). Subsection D serves as a catch-all provision, provid-
ing a prisoner may be eligible for relief if, “[a]s determined by the
Director of the [BOP], there exists in the defendant’s case an ex-
traordinary and compelling reason other than, or in combination
with, the reasons described in subdivisions (A) through (C).”
Id.,
cmt. (n.1(D)). We concluded § 1B1.13 applies to all motions for
compassionate release filed under § 3582(c)(1)(A), including those
filed by prisoners, and thus a district court may not reduce a sen-
tence unless a reduction would be consistent with § 1B1.13’s
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4 Opinion of the Court 21-12266
definition of “extraordinary and compelling reasons.”
United
States v. Bryant, 996 F.3d 1243, 1252–62 (11th Cir. 2021). Next, we
concluded the catch-all provision in the commentary to § 1B1.13
did not grant to district courts, in addition to the BOP, the discre-
tion to develop other reasons outside those listed in § 1B1.13 that
might justify a reduction in a defendant’s sentence.
Id. at 1248,
1263, 1265.
As an initial matter, Burgos does not argue the district court
erred in concluding that § 1B1.13, Subsection A did not provide
him relief, nor does he argue the district court should have consid-
ered Subsections B or C, devoting his brief to Subsection D argu-
ments. Thus, he has abandoned any challenge to the district
court’s conclusions as to Subsections A, B, or C.
Timson v.
Sampson, 518 F.3d 870, 874 (11th Cir. 2008) (stating although we
liberally construe
pro se briefs, “issues not briefed on appeal by a
pro se litigant are deemed abandoned”).
Moreover, Burgos’s various challenges under Subsection D
are foreclosed by our decision in
Bryant. Burgos’s arguments
about changes in law, his medical conditions, and his rehabilitation,
all fail because we concluded the district court could not develop
other reasons outside those listed in § 1B1.13.
Bryant, 996 F.3d at
1248, 1263, 1265.
Burgos’s arguments about
Concepcion v. United States do
not change this conclusion as the Supreme Court in that case dealt
with a sentence reduction request under § 404 of the First Step Act,
not a motion for compassionate release under § 603(b). 142 S. Ct.
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21-12266 Opinion of the Court 5
2389, 2404 (2022). In
Concepcion, the Supreme Court held a dis-
trict court considering a First Step Act § 404 motion may consider
intervening changes of law and fact.
Id. While the Supreme Court
concluded there is no restraint on the information a court modify-
ing a defendant’s sentence can consider absent a limiting statutory
or constitutional provision, it acknowledged that Congress has “ex-
pressly cabined” district courts’s discretion in the § 3582(c)(1)(A)
context.
Id. at 2400-01.
Burgos did not show an extraordinary or compelling reason
under § 1B1.13. The absence of that reason, one of the necessary
conditions, foreclosed Burgos’s motion for a sentence reduction.
See United States v. Tinker, 14 F.4th 1234, 1237-38 (11th Cir. 2021)
(“Under § 3582(c)(1)(A), the court must find that all necessary con-
ditions are satisfied before it grants a reduction,” and the absence
of any one of the necessary conditions—support in the 18 U.S.C.
§ 3553(a) factors, extraordinary and compelling reasons, and adher-
ence to U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13’s policy statement—forecloses a sentence
reduction).
Accordingly, because the Government’s position is clearly
correct as a matter of law, we GRANT the Government’s motion
for summary affirmance and DENY its motion to stay the briefing
schedule as moot per 11th Cir. R. 31-1(c).
Groendyke Transp., Inc.
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6 Opinion of the Court 21-12266
v. Davis, 406 F.2d 1158, 1162 (5th Cir. 1969)2 (providing summary
disposition is appropriate, in part, where “the position of one of the
parties is clearly right as a matter of law so that there can be no
substantial question as to the outcome of the case . . . .”).
AFFIRMED.
2 In our en banc decision in
Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209
(11th Cir. 1981), we adopted as binding precedent all decisions of the former
Fifth Circuit handed down before October 1, 1981.
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