Topic
Every decision we've filed under Sentencing Guidelines.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence of a defendant convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon. The court found no meritorious grounds for appeal and upheld the district court's determination that the sentence was substantively reasonable.
The Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a federal prisoner's habeas motion, ruling that a claim based on a new Supreme Court precedent was not novel enough to excuse procedural default. The court held that the legal basis for the argument was reasonably available to the defendant at the time of his plea.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the denial of a motion for sentence reduction, holding that Amendment 821 did not apply to a defendant whose original sentence included an upward departure based on specific conduct. The court found the district court properly weighed sentencing factors, concluding that the severity of the armed robbery and victim impact outweighed claims of rehabilitation.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment revoking Cecil Edward Jackson's supervised release and imposing a sentence of time served followed by one year of supervised release. The court found no abuse of discretion in the revocation or the sentence, noting Jackson's voluntary admission of violations and the district court's adequate explanation.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed a 324-month sentence for drug trafficking, ruling that defense counsel's explicit agreement with the Presentence Report's drug quantity constituted a deliberate waiver of any challenge to those facts. The court held that strategic choices made during sentencing cannot be undone on appeal simply because they later appear unwise.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a three hundred month sentence for drug distribution offenses. The court held that the government did not breach the plea agreement by seeking a dangerous weapons enhancement.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed a sentence for bank fraud conspiracy where the district court applied vulnerable victim enhancements. The appellate court found the lower court's determination that older bank customers were unusually vulnerable was not clearly erroneous.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of a federal prisoner's motion for compassionate release. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding the defendant remained a danger to the public despite his chronic kidney disease.
The Sixth Circuit affirmed an above-Guidelines sentence of one hundred twenty-one months for a large-scale drug trafficker. The court held that the district court properly varied upward based on the defendant's extensive criminal history and the volume of drugs involved.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed David Gerome Kennedy's 180-month sentence for drug conspiracy and possession, rejecting his claim that the district court plainly erred in applying sentencing enhancements for firearm possession and maintaining a premises for drug distribution. The court found sufficient evidence that Kennedy possessed firearms related to his drug trafficking and used the Milton residence as a primary site for distributing controlled substances.