Case: 17-14506 Date Filed: 08/31/2018 Page: 1 of 4 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 17-14506 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 4:17-cr-10010-KMM-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus YASEL MASA-HERNANDEZ, a.k.a. Yacel Maza-Hernandez, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ________________________ (August 31, 2018) Before WILSON, JORDAN and BLACK, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 17-14506 Date Filed: 08/31/2018 Page: 2 of 4 Yasel Masa-Hernandez appeals his 30-month sentence for conspiring to smuggle aliens into the United States. Masa-Hernandez raises two arguments on appeal. First, he asserts the district court erroneously denied him a minor role reduction under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(b) because he was simply doing a favor for a friend, the venture was not his idea, he stopped immediately when commanded to by the United States Coast Guard, he was not paid, and none of the aliens aboard were related to him. Second, he contends the district court’s sentence was substantively unreasonable because the court declined to vary downward from the guideline range to compensate him for time spent in immigration custody. After review, 1 we affirm. A district court may decrease a defendant’s offense level by two levels if it finds he was a “minor participant” in the criminal activity, which means a participant who is “less culpable than most other participants in the criminal activity, but whose role could not be described as minimal.” U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2, comment. (n.5). The adjustment applies if the defendant proves that he “play[ed] a 1 We review a district court’s decision on whether to grant a minor role reduction for clear error. United States v. De Varon, 175 F.3d 930, 937 (11th Cir. 1999) (en banc). The district court’s determination concerning a role reduction is premised on a case-by-case factual inquiry. See U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2, comment. (n.3(C)). Therefore, a sentencing court’s determination will generally be upheld if its decision is “supported by the record and does not involve a misapplication of a rule of law.” De Varon, 175 F.3d at 945. We review the reasonableness of a sentence under the deferential abuse-of-discretion standard of review. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41 (2007). The party who challenges the sentence bears the burden to show that the sentence is unreasonable in light of the record and the § 3553(a) factors. United States v. Tome, 611 F.3d 1371, 1378 (11th Cir. 2010). 2 Case: 17-14506 Date Filed: 08/31/2018 Page: 3 of 4 part in committing the offense that makes him substantially less culpable than the average participant in the criminal activity.” U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2, comment. (n.3(A)). The commentary to § 3B1.2 further instructs that, in deciding what sort of role reduction the court should apply, the court should consider the degree to which the defendant understood the scope and structure of the criminal activity, the degree the defendant was involved in planning or organizing the criminal activity, the degree to which the defendant exercised ...
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