United States Fourth Circuit

In a conviction of defendant for tax evasion, district court's imposition of a sentence to four years' probation, conditioned on the service of eighteen months' home detention with work release and international travel privileges, is vacated and remanded where: 1) the district court committed significant procedural error by minimizing of the seriousness of defendant's conduct, failing to consider the relevant policy statements and the need for general deterrence, and insufficiently explaining the reasons for its view that a term of imprisonment was not required; and 2) the sentence imposed was substantively unreasonable because of the district court's improper focus on defendant's financial ability to pay restitution.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/13/2010
• Published 01/13/2010

Judges

• Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, WILKINSON, Circuit Judge, and MARGARET B. SEYMOUR, United States District Judge for the District of South Carolina, sitting by designation.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:Matthew Theodore Martens, Office of the United States Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellant. James Frank Wyatt, III, Wyatt & Blake, LLP, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF:Gretchen C.F. Shappert, United States Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellant. Robert A. Blake, Jr., Wyatt & Blake, LLP, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee.