U.S. v. Drain

Dist. Ct. did not err in sentencing defendant to 57-month sentence on unlawful possession of firearm charge, even though said sentence was 16 months above applicable guideline. While defendant argued that new sentencing hearing was required, where Dist. Ct., in basing instant sentence in part on fact that defendant had 17 unadjudicated arrests, violated policy statement set forth in section 4A1.3(a)(3) of guidelines by considering said arrests, Dist. Ct.’s failure to follow section 4A1.3(a)(3) was not grounds for vacatur of sentence, since defendant’s substantial history of arrests, that were similar in nature to charged offense, was reliable indicator that defendant posed recidivism risk that required longer sentence under section 3553(a) factors. Moreover, defendant admitted at sentencing hearing to having long history of criminal conduct.