Case: 19-12353 Date Filed: 03/13/2020 Page: 1 of 12 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 19-12353 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 1:13-cr-20273-FAM-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus JUANA BAEZ PAULINO, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ________________________ (March 13, 2020) Before WILSON, BRANCH, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 19-12353 Date Filed: 03/13/2020 Page: 2 of 12 Juana Baez Paulino appeals her sentence of 24-months’ imprisonment followed by 2 years of supervised release for criminal contempt, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 401(3). Paulino raises two arguments on appeal. First, she asserts that her sentence is procedurally and substantively unreasonable because the district court failed to consider the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, failed to weigh those factors with the mitigating evidence that she provided, and considered improper factors in imposing her sentence. Second, she contends that the district court plainly erred in imposing a term of supervised release for her criminal contempt conviction. After a review of the record, we affirm. I. Background On April 25, 2013, a grand jury indicted Paulino for failure to surrender for service of her sentence, in violation 18 U.S.C. § 3146(a)(2) and (b)(1)(A)(ii) (Count 1), and criminal contempt, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 401(3) (Count 2). The indictment was predicated on Paulino’s former guilty plea to making a false statement in application for a U.S. passport and identity theft. She was sentenced to 25 months imprisonment, but prior to her surrender date on April 13, 2013, she cut off her ankle monitor and absconded. Five years later, in late 2018, police officers found her living near Boston, Massachusetts, under a false name. Paulino pleaded guilty to criminal contempt, Count 2, in March 2019. 2 Case: 19-12353 Date Filed: 03/13/2020 Page: 3 of 12 A Presentence Investigation Report (“PSI”) was prepared for Paulino’s sentencing hearing. According to the PSI, Paulino was an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic who entered Puerto Rico in 2002. She entered the Florida illegally in 2006. The PSI detailed Paulino’s history with abusive men, including one who beat her while she was pregnant. Paulino subsequently gave birth to a son with serious heart defects who required multiple surgeries and near-constant medication. At the time of Paulino’s sentencing, her son was being cared for by her mother and fiancé in Boston. Paulino filed a motion for a downward variance on the basis that she absconded in order to care for her ailing son because she had no one else “she would have trusted to care for [him].” Paulino also argued that a downward variance was necessary to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities and cited numerous cases involving similar conduct of absconsion as comparisons to argue for a short sentence. In support of her motion, Paulino attached letters from her mother, son, fiancé, members of her fiancé’s family, and two officials at her son’s school. At sentencing, the district ...
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