Federal 7th Circuit Court
Criminal Court
Sentencing
Dist. Ct. erred in sentencing defendant to concurrent 120-month terms of incarceration on charges of possession of destructive device and unlawful possession of firearm. Instant sentence was nearly three times high end of Guideline sentencing range, and Dist. Ct.’s perfunctory explanation for said sentence was inadequate to justify said departure, since it did not provide compelling explanation for why defendant must be punished more seriously than most defendants who receive within-Guidelines sentence. Dist. Ct. also failed to address defendant’s two mitigation arguments.