U.S. v. Molton

Dist. Ct. did not err in sentencing defendant to above guideline, 108-month term of incarceration on charge of unlawful possession of firearm. Record showed that defendant had several prior offenses, including aggravated unlawful use of weapon as juvenile, armed robbery and battery, and that defendant was on parole at time of charged offense. While defendant argued that Dist. Ct. did not appropriately consider his troubled childhood, Dist. Ct. could choose to focus on defendant’s most recent six years of repeated crimes. Moreover, while Dist. Ct. filed 39-page sentencing memorandum that presented extensive data on violence in East St. Louis area, said memorandum did not support defendant’s claim that Dist. Ct. considered irrelevant issues when determining his sentence, where topics in memorandum supported Dist. Ct.’s claim regarding general need for crime deterrence.