U.S. v. Ferguson

Dist. Ct. did not err in sentencing defendant to 420-month term of incarceration on charges of vehicular robbery by force and unlawful discharge of firearm during crime of violence, even though applicable sentencing range was 198-to-217-month term of incarceration. Instant charges stemmed from incident in which defendant opened passenger door of victim’s vehicle, ordered victim to give him her keys, then shot victim three times after she gave him her keys and nearly ran over her with her vehicle as she was crawling away from her car. Ct. of Appeals rejected defendant’s argument that Dist. Ct. had failed to adequately consider fact that he was only 17 years old at time of instant incident, where Dist. Ct. had discussed brain development in youths. Moreover Dist. Ct. could still find that mitigating factor of defendant’s youth was outweighed by gruesome nature of instant offenses and lasting impact of defendant’s actions on victim, who became disabled as result of defendant’s actions. Also, Dist. Ct. adequately articulated sufficient reason to support instant upward deviation from applicable sentencing range, where Dist. Ct. could properly find that guideline range did not capture seriousness of instant offenses, which were comparable to offense of attempted murder.