Topic
Every decision we've filed under Sentencing Guidelines.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dismissed an appeal by a defendant challenging his firearm possession sentence. The court held that the defendant's valid appeal waiver in his plea agreement barred his claims of procedural and substantive unreasonableness.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a criminal sentence involving drug distribution. The court rejected the defendant's argument regarding a sentencing enhancement for maintaining a premises.
The Sixth Circuit affirmed a twenty-year prison sentence for a defendant convicted of drug trafficking. The court held that the district court properly applied a stash-house enhancement and did not abuse its discretion in sentencing.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed an above-Guidelines sentence for a defendant with extensive tribal court convictions. The court found no abuse of discretion in the district court's reliance on the defendant's criminal history to justify the variance.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the conviction and twenty-year sentence of Anthony Blair, rejecting multiple challenges to the sufficiency of evidence and the legality of digital forensics. The court held that the government proved Blair's guilty knowledge through his recruitment scheme and financial gains, and that the warrantless passcode guess did not violate the Fourth Amendment.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a 24-month federal sentence for illegal reentry ordered to run consecutively to an undischarged state sentence for child sex abuse. The court held that the district court properly weighed the need to punish unrelated conduct and did not abuse its discretion in rejecting the defendant's arguments for a concurrent sentence.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed Kenric W. Young's conviction and 322-month sentence, finding no plain error in the district court's denial of his suppression motion or its career offender classification. The court held that the officer's reasonable suspicion to conduct a pat-down was supported by the totality of circumstances, including flight and a visible bulge, and that Young failed to prove a realistic probability that his prior state conviction would not qualify as a predicate offense.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's sentence for a firearm offense, ruling that the judge did not abuse their discretion. The court held that the sentencing court properly weighed statutory factors and relied on Guidelines considerations to justify an upward variance.
The Third Circuit vacated a two-week sentence for a felon-in-possession of a firearm, ruling it procedurally and substantively unreasonable. The court held that the District Court failed to adequately address sentencing guidelines and the need for deterrence given the defendant's extensive drug violations during pretrial release.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed Tyrone Hinton's sentence, ruling that the district court did not abuse its discretion by failing to explicitly address every nonfrivolous argument against the career offender Guidelines range. The appellate court held that the judge's explanation was sufficient to demonstrate a reasoned basis for the sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).