United States Third Circuit

Defendant-appellant, a former police chief, was sentenced to more than eleven years in prison after pleading guilty to corruption charges. The sentence is vacated and remanded for resentencing where: 1) Application Note 6 of section 2C1.1 expressly prohibits application of the abuse of trust enhancement; 2) defendant's final Guidelines range was determined by the higher offense level of section 2D1.1, but he was sentenced pursuant to section 2C1.1; and 3) Application Note 6's prohibition on the abuse of trust enhancement applies to any sentence originating under section 2C1.1, even those that apply the offense level for another Guideline pursuant to the cross-reference, such as section 2D1.1.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/15/2014
• Published 09/15/2014

Judges

• Hardiman

Court

• United States Third Circuit

Counsel