Background
Verl Antoine Janis was convicted of impeding and resisting a federal officer involving physical contact. He received an advisory Sentencing Guidelines range of fifteen to twenty-one months. The district court imposed a sixty-month sentence, citing Janis’s fifty-eight arrests on the Cheyenne River Reservation and one hundred eleven tribal court charges that were not scored under the guidelines.
The court’s reasoning
The court found no abuse of discretion in the district court’s reliance on Janis’s prior criminal history to support an upward variance. The district court determined Janis was a dangerous individual with a great likelihood of reoffending. Regarding mitigating factors, the court held that where the district court heard argument on specific factors, it may be presumed that the court considered them. The court noted that Janis’s disagreement with the weighing of factors does not demonstrate abuse of discretion.
What it means going forward
This decision reinforces the ability of district courts to impose above-Guidelines sentences when a defendant’s criminal history, particularly tribal court convictions, is significantly understated in the guidelines calculation.
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