U.S. v. Dickerson

Dist. Ct. did not err in sentencing defendant to 84-month term of incarceration on unlawful possession of firearm charge, even though applicable Guidelines range was between 51 and 64 months’ incarceration. Dist. Ct. could properly find that defendant knowingly joined his passenger’s plan to hold victim at gunpoint, and Ct, of Appeals rejected defendant’s claim that Dist. Ct. was required to consider whether instant upward variance in sentence would create sentencing disparity between defendant and other defendants, especially where Dist. Ct. gave adequate explanation as to why sentence within applicable Guidelines range would not reflect seriousness of defendant’s offense, would not adequately deter him from future and would not adequately protect public. Moreover, instant sentence was not substantively unreasonable, where Dist. Ct. considered legitimate factors in determining defendant’s sentence that included defendant’s almost uninterrupted pattern of criminal conduct since he was 17, lack of deterrent effect of prior punishments and severity of crimes that defendant had committed.