United States v. Melvin McGee

MEMORANDUM

Melvin Lutrell McGee appeals his sentence imposed after his guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1112 . Although his 71-month sentence falls within the applicable range of the Sentencing Guidelines, McGee argues that it should be reversed for three reasons. First, McGee contends that the district court erroneously treated his of fense as murder, rather than voluntary manslaughter. In a related argument, McGee claims that the court improperly rejected his explanation of his state of mind in commission of the offense. Finally, McGee argues that the sentence was procedurally erroneous because the court used the statutory maximum as its analytical starting point, rather than the Guidelines range.

The substantive reasonableness of a sentence is reviewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Carty, 520 F.3d 984, 993 (9th Cir.2008) (en bane). After carefully reviewing the record, we conclude that the sentence imposed by the district court was not unreasonable.

The district court did not contradict McGee’s voluntary manslaughter conviction by discrediting his claim that the victim had reached for a gun. Under federal law, “[i]f the…