United States Eighth Circuit

Defendant's sentence for possession of a prohibited object in prison is affirmed where: 1) the district court imposed an upward variance and thus was not required to follow the procedural requirements for departing; 2) there was no plain error in the procedural adequacy of the court's consideration; and 3) although some might argue that there was a degree of unfairness when non-personal characteristics contributed to a sentence, here the district court's focus on deterrence and its balancing of the section 3553(a) factors did not make the sentence unreasonable.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/29/2010
• Published 10/29/2010

Judges

• Bobby E. Shepherd

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel