U.S v. Regan, 2010 WL 5191328 (12/23/10) (Published) - The 10th describes the argument that the child porn guidelines are not empirically based or rational as "quite forceful," but proceeds to ignore it. Even though only a substantial reasonableness argument was made on appeal, the 10th refused to consider the absurdity of the child porn guidelines because it thought that feature of the guidelines had not been presented below. Given the number and kind of images involved, the usual stuff about encouraging the making of child porn, and the trial court's usual formulaic pronouncement of "careful consideration" of whatever arguments had been made, the bottom-of-the-guideline range sentence of 97 months was reasonable, whether or not a presumption is owed guidelines that are not empirically based.

U.S. v. Gallegos-Soto, 2010 WL 5176813 (12/22/10) (unpub'd) - The 10th affirms a bottom-of-the-guideline-range reentry sentence. The 10th rejects, without addressing, the point that the victim of the prior sex offense that triggered the 16-offense-level increase described the matter as a single attempt to touch her and that she and her family had forgiven him. The 10th does little more than state that the sentence served the purposes of reflecting the seriousness of the prior criminal history and protecting the public. The 10th also says the trial court was still making an individualized assessment, even though it said: "You know I've heard 'I will not return to the United States' at least 250 times a year and they all come back." It was okay for the judge to express skepticism about the defendant's claim that he will not return.

U.S. v. Reed, 2010 WL 5176818 (12/22/10) (unpub'd) - For the second time, now with slightly more explanation, the 10th declares the Fair Sentencing Act ("FSA") does not apply retroactively to people who committed their crimes before the Act was enacted, no matter when they were sentenced. The 10th explains that its precedent says the general savings statute applies to amendments as well as repeals. The defendant in this case had been sentenced long before the FSA went into effect.

Coleman v. Daniels, No. 10-1393 (12/22/10) - The 10th rejects a claim that the petitioner should be released from prison, although there was a couple of decades left to be served on his 312-month sentence, because he had settled his debt to the U.S. government by tendering a $250 million promissory note.