United States v. Floy (Warren), 22-611

Defendant Tyiese Warren pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy involving multiple violent offenses.
At sentencing the district court imposed a 480-month prison term, which was below the Guidelines range and below the sentence requested by the government.
Warren received a two-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a), but the court denied an additional one-level reduction under § 3E1.1(b).
The court relied on unchallenged testimony from a detention-center officer that Warren assaulted another detainee after his guilty plea; the court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Warren did not withdraw from criminal conduct or associations.
Warren appealed, arguing (1) procedural error in denying the extra acceptance-of-responsibility reduction and (2) substantive unreasonableness of his 480-month sentence (claiming insufficient weight given to his youth and an alleged sentencing disparity).
The Second Circuit affirmed, holding the district court’s factual findings were not clearly erroneous and the below-Guidelines sentence was not substantively unreasonable.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the district court procedurally erred by denying an additional one-level § 3E1.1 acceptance reduction	United States: The government presented unchallenged, credible evidence (detention-center officer testimony) showing Warren assaulted a detainee post-plea, so he did not voluntarily withdraw from criminal conduct and is not entitled to the extra reduction	Warren: He had accepted responsibility and should receive the additional one-level decrease under § 3E1.1(b)	Court: No procedural error; factual finding of post-plea assault supported by preponderance of evidence and not clearly erroneous, so denial of extra point was proper
Whether the 480-month sentence is substantively unreasonable (weight to youth and alleged disparity)	United States: Sentence was reasonable—below Guidelines and justified by serious, repeated violent conduct including killings, attempted killings, robberies, and the detention assault	Warren: Court failed to give adequate weight to his youth, intelligence, and family support, producing an unwarranted disparity with co-defendants	Court: No abuse of discretion; district court reasonably balanced § 3553(a) factors, and the below-Guidelines sentence was not "shockingly" high or otherwise unsupportable

United States v. Yilmaz, 910 F.3d 686 (2d Cir. 2018) (abuse-of-discretion standard for procedural and substantive reasonableness review)
United States v. Gaskin, 364 F.3d 438 (2d Cir. 2004) (preponderance of the evidence standard at sentencing)
United States v. Cuevas, 496 F.3d 256 (2d Cir. 2007) (district court credibility findings entitled to deference)
United States v. Chu, 714 F.3d 742 (2d Cir. 2013) (post-plea criminal conduct can negate acceptance-of-responsibility reduction)
United States v. Strange, 65 F.4th 86 (2d Cir. 2023) (Guidelines factors include voluntary termination or withdrawal from criminal associations)
United States v. Cavera, 550 F.3d 180 (2d Cir. 2008) (weight given to aggravating/mitigating factors is for the sentencing judge)
United States v. Solis, 18 F.4th 395 (2d Cir. 2021) (standard for finding a sentence substantively unreasonable)