(DOWNLOAD) "United States v. Schmitt" by United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: United States v. Schmitt
- Author : United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- Release Date : January 07, 2007
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 58 KB
Description
William Schmitt pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252A(a)(5)(B) and 2256(8)(A). Everyone agreed that, if the Sentencing Guidelines were to be followed, his sentence would fall between 63 and 78 months imprisonment. Schmitt, however, argued that the only reasonable sentence for him would be below that range. At his sentencing hearing, he showed convincingly that the overwhelming majority of defendants charged with the same crime in the state courts covering the same area as the Eastern District of Wisconsin received sentences far lower than 63 months. Indeed, only nine of 104 defendants sentenced in the previous five years in those counties received any prison time at all. Schmitt argued to the district court that it should take this evidence into account and sentence him below the guideline minimum. The district judge disagreed and imposed a guideline sentence of 63 months. Schmitt appeals his sentence, arguing that 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(6) requires district courts to consider the disparity between state and federal sentences in choosing a sentence. He also asserts that the district court erroneously believed that the guidelines are mandatory in cases involving child pornography and accordingly afforded too much weight to the guidelines in this case. We agree with Schmitt in part. Although the district court correctly rejected Schmitts argument about federal/state disparities, we cannot be confident that it approached the guidelines in the way that United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), and now Rita v. United States, 127 S.Ct. 2456 (2007), require. We therefore vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.