Opinion
No. 07-51003 Summary Calendar.
September 15, 2008.
Joseph H. Gay, Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office Western District of Texas, San Antonio, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
John Michael Hurley, Waco, TX, for Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, USDC No. 6:05-CR-220-ALL.
Before DAVIS, GARZA and PRADO, Circuit Judges.
Joshua Nehemiah Reyna appeals the mandatory consecutive 60-month and 300-month sentences imposed following his guilty-plea convictions for possession of a firearm during a drug-trafficking offense. Reyna argues that the sentences are cruel and unusual in violation of the Eighth Amendment because they are grossly disproportionate to the severity of the offenses committed. Because Reyna failed to object on this ground in the district court, review is for plain error. See United States v. Howard, 220 F.3d 645, 647 (5th Cir. 2000). In comparison to the life sentence imposed in Rummel v. Estelle, 445 U.S. 263, 100 S.Ct. 1133, 63 L.Ed.2d 382 (1980), on a non-violent criminal pursuant to a recidivist statute, and the 30-year sentence imposed in United States v. Gonzales, 121 F.3d 928, 943-44 (5th Cir. 1997), on a non-habitual offender convicted of using or carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking offense, the sentences imposed on Reyna are not grossly disproportionate to his offenses. See Gonzales, 121 F.3d at 943; McGruder v. Puckett, 954 F.2d 313, 316 (5th Cir. 1992).
Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.