United States Fourth Circuit

In this case, defendant pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. The district court found that defendant used the firearm in an attempted murder by discharging the firearm into an occupied vehicle, and therefore applied the Guidelines range for attempted murder to determine his sentence. Defendant disputed that he had the requisite mens rea for attempted murder, and on the basis of defendant having made such argument, the district court denied him a downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility. The judgment is affirmed as to the district court's denial of the acceptance of responsibility reduction, where: 1) when defendant denied that his "acts and omissions" included shooting with the intent to kill, he denied relevant conduct attributable to him; and 2) falsely denying relevant conduct is inconsistent with acceptance of responsibility.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/13/2015
• Published 02/13/2015

Judges

• Duncan

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel