Topic
Every decision we've filed under Sentencing Guidelines.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of Marco Uribe's motion for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. Section 3582(c)(1). The court held that the district court acted within its discretion by relying on the Section 3553(a) factors and Uribe's dangerousness, even though the government agreed he had shown extraordinary and compelling reasons.
The Seventh Circuit vacated Frank Washington the Third's seventy-month felon-in-possession sentence on procedural grounds. The court held that the district court did not adequately explain why that sentence was appropriate under the defendant's individual circumstances.
The Seventh Circuit held that an Indiana child-molesting conviction qualifies as a prior state conviction "relating to aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct involving a minor or ward" under 18 U.S.C. Section 2252A(b)(2), triggering the ten-year mandatory minimum for Schatz's federal child-pornography conviction.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed the Smiths' convictions and Amanda Smith's sentence, but vacated Joel Smith's sentence and remanded for resentencing. The court held that the aggravated-assault guideline was sufficiently analogous to Joel Smith's Oklahoma child-abuse-by-injury conviction and that the district court's contrary ruling was procedural error.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacated the sentence of Joel Smith due to a procedural error in calculating his sentencing guidelines range. The court affirmed the convictions of both Joel Smith and his wife, Amanda Smith, while remanding for resentencing on the child abuse count.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed the denial of Melvin Maxwell's suppression motion and upheld his sentence. The court held the traffic stop and trunk search were lawful and found no procedural error in the within-Guidelines sentence.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed an above-guidelines sentence for illegal reentry. The court held that the defendant did not show the upward variance was substantively unreasonable or inadequately explained.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed Gene Rudolph's sentence after remand in a federal drug case. The court held that the government's additional evidence was sufficient to support counting Rudolph's 1996 conviction and applying the career-offender enhancement.
The Fifth Circuit summarily affirmed Francisco Rodriguez-Saldana's illegal-reentry conviction and sentence. The court held that his constitutional challenge to the Section 1326(b) sentencing enhancement is foreclosed by existing Supreme Court and circuit precedent.
The Eighth Circuit dismissed Walter Thornton's challenge to his revocation sentence as moot because he had already been released from custody. The court nonetheless modified the written revocation judgment to match the district court's oral pronouncement.