Ruiz v. TDCJ

1 Citing case

  1. U.S. v. Key

    599 F.3d 469 (5th Cir. 2010)   Cited 144 times
    Finding no abuse of discretion in extent of variance from 57 months to 216 months of imprisonment

    Any disparity vanishes, however, when Key's sentence is compared to others imposed for Intoxication Manslaughter under Texas law. Similar offenses yielded sentences ranging from 8 to 20 years of imprisonment, and offenders with prior felonies received sentences as high as life imprisonment. See McKenzie v. Texas, 2005 WL 283596 (Tex.App.-Eastland 2005, no writ) (unpublished) (8 years); Ruiz v. Texas, 2005 WL 2469659 (Tex.App.-El Paso 2005, no writ) (unpublished) (20 years); Williams v. Quarterman, 2007 WL 4547847 (N.D.Tex. 2007) (unpublished) (life imprisonment). If there is a disparity in Key's sentence, it is not great and represents a not-unreasonable balancing of the ยง 3553(a) factors, thereby reflecting the severity of the offense and history of the defendant. The district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Key to an above-guidelines sentence.