United States v. Joshua Houchins

USCA4 Appeal: 24-7029 Doc: 8 Filed: 06/03/2025 Pg: 1 of 2 UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 24-7029 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. JOSHUA MATTHEW HOUCHINS, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. James C. Dever III, District Judge. (5:20-cr-00245-D-1) Submitted: March 27, 2025 Decided: June 3, 2025 Before THACKER and BERNER, Circuit Judges, and KEENAN, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Joshua Matthew Houchins, Appellant Pro Se. David A. Bragdon, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 24-7029 Doc: 8 Filed: 06/03/2025 Pg: 2 of 2 PER CURIAM: Joshua Matthew Houchins appeals the district court’s order denying his 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) motions for a sentence reduction pursuant to Amendment 821 to the Sentencing Guidelines. Upon review of the record, we discern no abuse of the court’s discretion in the denial of Houchins’ motions. The district court considered the factors listed in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) and provided an individualized explanation for why it declined to reduce Houchins’s sentence. See United States v. Martin, 916 F.3d 389, 395 (4th Cir. 2019) (providing standard of review); see also id. at 398 (recognizing that “[t]here is no right to a sentence reduction under § 3582(c)(2)”). Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order solely on the basis of its Section 3553(a) analysis, without countenancing its noted policy disagreement with Amendment 821, United States v. Houchins, No. 5:20-cr- 00245-D-1 (E.D.N.C. Oct. 30, 2024). We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED 2