Improper Guidelines Calculation Leads to Too Low of a Sentence, Remand
United States v. Todd, No. 06-6334 (10th Cir. Feb. 12, 2008)
District court guidelines sentence based on the 37 grams of meth Defendant was arrested with, rather on the 680 grams he admitted to having dealt in the previous year (and trial evidence tended to confirm multiple sales by Defendant) was clearly erroneous and not harmless, in spite of Gall. This was not a correctly calculated guideline sentence, and the guidelines remain the required starting place. Practice tip: apparently, a more careful sentencing record by the district court might have made the court’s low sentence a bit more appeal proof.
District court guidelines sentence based on the 37 grams of meth Defendant was arrested with, rather on the 680 grams he admitted to having dealt in the previous year (and trial evidence tended to confirm multiple sales by Defendant) was clearly erroneous and not harmless, in spite of Gall. This was not a correctly calculated guideline sentence, and the guidelines remain the required starting place. Practice tip: apparently, a more careful sentencing record by the district court might have made the court’s low sentence a bit more appeal proof.
posted by Anonymous at 10:30 AM
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