Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca7-15-03856/USCOURTS-ca7-15-03856-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Lloyd B. Lockwood
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Seventh Circuit ____________________

No. 15-3856

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

LLOYD B. LOCKWOOD,

Defendant-Appellant.

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the

Central District of Illinois.

No. 2:12-cr-20070 — Harold A. Baker, Judge.

____________________

ARGUED SEPTEMBER 22, 2016 — DECIDED NOVEMBER 1, 2016

____________________

Before BAUER, POSNER, and MANION, Circuit Judges.

MANION, Circuit Judge. This case returns for a second time. 

Lloyd Lockwood appeals his 120-month sentence for possession of a destructive device. Previously, we vacated Lockwood’s first sentence of the same length. This time, for the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
2 No. 15-3856

I. Background

A. Conviction and First Sentencing1

In an attempt to gain an advantage in a family dispute, 

Susie Curtis asked her longtime friend Lloyd Lockwood to 

place a package in her brother’s truck and then report to the 

police that it contained a bomb. Lockwood agreed to do it, but 

upon arrival at the brother’s house, he failed to locate the 

truck. As a result, Lockwood decided to place the bomb in the 

brother’s mailbox. He then immediately called the police and 

reported that the brother had a bomb and planned to blow up 

his office. An initial bomb-squad search turned up nothing, 

but Curtis’s sister-in-law discovered the package in the couple’s mailbox later that day. Authorities determined that the 

package contained a pipe bomb that was incapable of detonation because it was not connected to a power source.

After reviewing Curtis’s phone records, federal agents zeroed in on Lockwood. The government eventually charged 

him with possession of a destructive device. Before trial, 

Lockwood stipulated that the pipe bomb qualified as a destructive device under federal law. As a result, he necessarily 

staked his entire defense at trial on his supposed ignorance 

that the package contained a bomb. The jury was unconvinced and convicted him.2

 1 A more detailed recitation of the facts relating to Lockwood’s conviction is set forth in our initial decision in this case. United States v. Lockwood, 789 F.3d 773 (7th Cir. 2015) (Lockwood I). We present a brief summary 

here for the sake of clarity.

2 The presiding district judge retired after the trial. Judge Baker was 

assigned to the case for sentencing.

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
No. 15-3856 3

The district court sentenced Lockwood to the statutory 

maximum 120 months’ imprisonment, well above the Guidelines range of 33–41 months. The court concluded that Lockwood had to be incapacitated, but it based that finding on 

only a short, non-detailed description of Lockwood’s criminal 

history and a cursory discussion of the crime of conviction. 

See Lockwood I, 789 F.3d at 778–79.

On appeal, we affirmed his conviction but vacated his sentence. We held that the district court did not explain adequately “why Lockwood is different from the vast majority of 

defendants” who receive within-Guidelines sentences. Id. at 

782. In short, the district court’s description of Lockwood’s 

crime and brief notation of his “extensive criminal record” 

was insufficient to show why Lockwood should receive a sentence nearly three times the top of the Guidelines range. Id.

B. Resentencing

On remand, the district court again imposed a 120-month 

sentence. This time, however, it detailed its justification in a 

lengthy sentencing order. The court recounted testimony 

from Lockwood’s ex-wife and her sister, both of whom spoke 

about Lockwood’s propensity for violence that continued 

even while he was on pretrial release in this case. Although 

Lockwood’s criminal history category was I, the court found 

that “his Guideline criminal history and criminal history category do not reflect the full magnitude of his criminal conduct.” It extensively detailed his troubling history, which includes several domestic incidents wherein he threatened to 

kill women, one of which resulted in a conviction for aggravated arson when he burned down a girlfriend’s apartment 

building. See People v. Lockwood, 608 N.E.2d 132 (Ill. Ct. App. 

1992).

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
4 No. 15-3856

Ultimately, the district court concluded that Lockwood 

should be incapacitated for a significant time to protect the 

public and those closest to him. Based on the evidence and 

Lockwood’s demeanor, the court deemed Lockwood a “sociopath” who showed little remorse for his actions and had 

made a lifetime of excuses for criminal behavior. Since the 

court held “very little hope for Lockwood’s rehabilitation or 

behavior modification,” it sentenced him to the ten-year maximum. Again, Lockwood timely appealed.

II. Discussion

A. Procedural Soundness

We review Lockwood’s procedural challenge de novo. Lockwood I, 789 F.3d at 781. “A sentencing court commits procedural error by not adequately explaining its choice of sentence.” Id. (quoting United States v. Lyons, 733 F.3d 777, 784 (7th 

Cir. 2013)). To ensure that the sentencing judge did not commit any “significant procedural error,” Gall v. United States, 

552 U.S. 38, 53 (2008), we examine whether the district court: 

i) properly calculated the Guidelines range; ii) recognized that

the Guidelines range was not mandatory; iii) considered the 

sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a); iv) selected a sentence based on facts that were not clearly erroneous; and v) 

adequately explained the chosen sentence including an explanation for any deviation from the Guidelines range. Lockwood 

I, 789 F.3d at 781.

If the sentencing court decides that an above-Guidelines 

sentence is warranted, it must “consider the extent of the deviation and ensure that the justification is sufficiently compelling to support the degree of variance.” Gall, 552 U.S. at 50. 

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
No. 15-3856 5

The court must “adequately explain the chosen sentence to allow for meaningful appellate review and to promote the perception of fair sentencing.” Id. The sentencing judge also must 

address a defendant’s “principal arguments in mitigation unless they are too weak to merit discussion.” United States v. 

Garcia-Segura, 717 F.3d 566, 568 (7th Cir. 2013). The ultimate 

question is not whether the sentence imposed could be a reasonable one, but whether the reasons given are sufficiently 

compelling to support the upward departure. Lockwood I, 789 

F.3d at 781.

In this case, the district court properly calculated the 

Guidelines range, acknowledged that the range was mandatory, and considered the Section 3553(a) factors. Thus, only 

the final two, somewhat related procedural requirements are 

at issue. Lockwood contends that the district court relied on 

erroneous facts and failed to explain adequately the upward 

departure. According to Lockwood, the court made four specific errors: (1) it improperly credited the testimony of his exwife and former sister-in-law to establish his propensity for 

violence; (2) it improperly inferred that the pipe bomb he deposited was capable of harm; (3) it relied too heavily on his 

criminal history despite the age of his convictions; and (4) it 

failed to sufficiently address his mitigation arguments. Lockwood’s first two arguments allege that the district court relied 

on clearly erroneous facts, while the third alleges a failure to 

explain the chosen sentence adequately. We consider and reject these arguments in turn.

1. Sisters’ Testimony

Lockwood contends that the district court should have 

disregarded some of Crystal Jarvis’s testimony. He says that 

Jarvis, his former sister-in-law, was clearly biased and that 

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
6 No. 15-3856

part of her testimony was fatally inconsistent. Lockwood particularly takes issue with Jarvis’s claim at the hearing that 

Lockwood had a gun when he threatened her while on release 

in this case. That testimony contradicts what she told police 

when she first reported the incident in 2012. The district court 

credited her in-court testimony and found that Lockwood 

pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her.

“[D]eterminations of witness credibility are entitled to 

great deference and ‘can virtually never be clear error.’” 

United States v. Ortiz, 431 F.3d 1035, 1039 (7th Cir. 2005) (quoting United States v. Blalock, 321 F.3d 686, 690 (7th Cir. 2003)). 

Unless a witness’s testimony describes events that are impossible, either physically or under the laws of nature, the district 

court is within its discretion to credit that testimony. Id. Inconsistencies in a witness’s testimony are not enough to meet this 

standard. See id. at 1040. Nor is potential bias. Indeed, a district court “may credit testimony that is ‘totally uncorroborated and comes from an admitted liar, convicted felon, or 

large scale drug-dealing, paid government informant.’” 

United States v. White, 360 F.3d 718, 720 (7th Cir. 2004) (quoting 

Blalock, 321 F.3d at 690). The court’s decision to credit Jarvis’s

testimony was not clear error.

Next, Lockwood takes issue with the district court’s recitation of certain testimony from his ex-wife, Tonya Sexton. 

Specifically, the court recounted that “Sexton spoke of evidence of fires (a charred paper towel stuffed into her car’s fuel 

tank filler neck, and a fire smouldering upstairs in their house 

after Lockwood left the house one morning).” It cautioned 

that Sexton “could not be sure Lockwood had anything to do 

with either occurrence,” but noted that “Lockwood is no 

stranger to fire as a means of intimidation.”

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
No. 15-3856 7

Lockwood claims that the district court improperly inferred that he was involved in those incidents. The text of the 

sentencing order says otherwise. The court credited Sexton’s 

testimony that the incidents occurred, but also her uncertainty about Lockwood’s involvement. It also alluded to Lockwood’s past arson conviction. That is not equivalent to a factual finding that Lockwood was involved in the incidents 

with Sexton. The court did not rely on any clearly erroneous 

facts with respect to her testimony.

2. The Bomb’s Ability to Cause Harm

Lockwood next contends that the district court improperly 

inferred that the bomb he possessed was capable of harm. The 

sentencing order does say that Lockwood’s placement of the 

bomb in the mailbox “expos[ed] the mail carrier to harm.” But 

this is little more than a stray remark. The footnote attached 

to it dispels any concern that the court relied on a clearly erroneous fact.3 The court knew that the bomb was not capable 

of detonation, so it could not possibly have relied on the fact 

that it was so capable.4

 3 The footnote recognizes that “[t]he bomb was not attached to an energy source.”

4 Even if the use of the word “harm” was perhaps a poor choice, it was 

at most harmless error. Error is harmless when it “did not affect the district court’s selection of the sentence imposed.” United States v. Glosser, 623 

F.3d 413, 419 (7th Cir. 2010) (quoting Williams v. United States, 503 U.S. 193, 

203 (1992)). The district court’s stray statement that Lockwood’s actions 

“expos[ed] the mail carrier to harm” did not affect the court’s overall analysis and choice of sentence. That sentence was instead based on the evidence of Lockwood’s propensity for violence and his failure to show any 

remorse or accept responsibility for his actions. 

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
8 No. 15-3856

3. Reliance on Lockwood’s Criminal History

Lockwood contends that the district court did not adequately explain its upward departure because it again focused 

too heavily on his criminal history. In Lockwood I, we held that 

the district court erred when it “focused almost exclusively on 

Lockwood’s previous criminal history, but sprinkled in a mention of his current offense and two comments about the need 

to incapacitate him.” Lockwood I, 789 F.3d at 782–83. We found 

that insufficient to justify a sentence almost three times the 

upper Guideline. According to Lockwood, the district court 

has repeated its error.

The sentencing order on remand bears little resemblance 

to the brief comments the judge made at Lockwood’s first sentencing hearing. We described the court’s justification for 

Lockwood’s first sentence as merely a “truncated reference to 

[his] criminal history, a mention of the current offense, and 

two comments about incapacitation.” Id. at 783. At resentencing, the court significantly expanded on its discussion of 

Lockwood’s dangerous history. It also credited the testimony 

of Jarvis and Sexton that described Lockwood’s propensity for 

violence against women and showed that it was not behind 

him. In short, the court provided much more than a truncated 

reference to Lockwood’s history.

Moreover, the district court specifically addressed the necessity of an upward departure in Lockwood’s case. The sentencing order explained in detail how his criminal history category (I) does “not reflect the full magnitude of his criminal 

conduct.” In United States v. McIntyre, 531 F.3d 481 (7th Cir. 

2008) (per curiam), we recognized that an upward departure 

may be appropriate when a defendant’s criminal history category underrepresents his actual criminal history. There, the 

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
No. 15-3856 9

defendant had engaged in a life of crime and would have been 

sentenced as a career offender “had it not been for a quirk in 

Massachusetts law.” Id. at 484. We affirmed his 144-month 

sentence for bank robbery although the top of the Guidelines 

range was just 46 months. Id. at 482. This case is quite similar. 

The district court adequately explained that Lockwood would 

have been sentenced as an Armed Career Criminal but for our 

decision in Buchmeier v. United States, 581 F.3d 561 (7th Cir. 

2009). This was sufficient justification for the upward departure.

Finally, the court made some other observations that distinguish Lockwood from the run-of-the-mill offender. Specifically, the court focused on Lockwood’s refusal to take responsibility for his actions. It labeled his statement in allocution a 

“denial of reality” and found that his actions exhibited a “total 

lack of concern for the results of his conduct.” That is why the 

court thought Lockwood a “sociopath” with “very little hope” 

of rehabilitation. This explanation, coupled with the Guidelines’ underrepresentation of Lockwood’s criminal history, 

was not reversible error.

4. Lockwood’s Mitigation Arguments 

As Lockwood correctly points out, sentencing courts 

“must address a defendant’s principal arguments in mitigation unless they are too weak to merit discussion.” Garcia-Segura, 717 F.3d at 568. However, the sentencing order did reject 

all three mitigation arguments raised in Lockwood’s brief. 

The first two—Lockwood’s supposed expression of remorse 

and the staleness of his criminal history—require little further 

explanation. As discussed above, the district court simply did 

not believe that Lockwood was remorseful and thought his 

criminal history category significantly undersold the nature 

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
10 No. 15-3856

of his past. The court also rejected Lockwood’s final argument 

that he had been operating a legitimate car repair business for 

several years since he had been out of prison, finding instead 

that the business had operated at a loss. In sum, the district 

court satisfied the procedural requirement that it address all 

of Lockwood’s principal mitigation arguments.

5. Overall Procedural Soundness

Having rejected Lockwood’s objections to the sentencing 

order, we conclude that the district court adequately explained its choice of sentence and did not rely on any erroneous facts in the sentencing order. Therefore, Lockwood’s resentencing was free from procedural error.

B. Substantive Reasonableness

We review the substantive reasonableness of a sentence 

only for abuse of discretion. United States v. Aldridge, 642 F.3d 

537, 544 (7th Cir. 2011). We will affirm the sentence “so long 

as the district court offered an adequate statement of its reasons, consistent with 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), for imposing such a 

sentence.” McIntyre, 531 F.3d at 483. “There is no presumption 

that a sentence outside the guidelines’ range is unreasonable.” 

Aldridge, 642 F.3d at 544 (citing Gall, 552 U.S. at 51).

Lockwood proffers just one further argument. He contends that a statutory maximum sentence is unreasonable because many offenders receive less severe sentences for 

“worse” conduct, such as possession of a pipe bomb capable 

of detonation. Lockwood reasons that his sentence leaves no 

room for more culpable offenders to be sentenced more severely. He says that his sentence creates a significant risk of 

unwarranted sentencing disparities between defendants.

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
No. 15-3856 11

Lockwood relies on United States v. Kirkpatrick, 589 F.3d 414 

(7th Cir. 2009), and United States v. Snyder, 635 F.3d 956 (7th 

Cir. 2011). Kirkpatrick involved a felon-in-possession defendant who was sentenced to 108 months’ imprisonment despite 

a Guidelines range of 37–46 months. The defendant had 

caused federal agents to waste 200 hours of investigatory time 

when he lied about killing four people and placing a contract 

hit on the federal agent investigating his case. Kirkpatrick, 589 

F.3d at 415. We vacated the sentence because the district judge

had “proceeded as if any sentence within the statutory maximum (10 years) needs no explanation beyond the conclusion 

that something more than the top of the Guidelines’ range is 

in order.” Id. In other words, the court failed to explain why 

such a significant departure was warranted. The sentence appeared to have been “chosen arbitrarily.” Id.

In Snyder, we vacated a statutory-maximum two-year sentence because the district court had failed to consider the 

Guidelines range at all. 635 F.3d at 961. Because of that failure, 

we were not certain that the district court had “considered 

whether imposing what it believed to be the harshest possible 

sentence would lead to unwarranted disparities among similarly situated defendants.” Id. Indeed, we clarified that “[h]ad 

the district court correctly calculated and carefully reviewed 

the Guidelines range, we would be more confident that it also 

considered the need to avoid unwarranted disparities.” Id.

The district court’s failure to consider the Guidelines range 

doomed the sentence.

Neither case helps Lockwood. Kirkpatrick stands for the 

proposition that sentencing judges must carefully explain significant upward departures from the Guidelines range. We afCase: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12
12 No. 15-3856

ford significant deference to carefully explained upward departures. Kirkpatrick, 589 F.3d at 415. And Snyder holds only 

that district courts must carefully consider the Guidelines 

range before imposing an above-Guidelines sentence. Indeed,

the Supreme Court has said that once a district judge does 

this, “he necessarily [gives] significant weight and consideration to the need to avoid unwarranted disparities.” Gall, 552 

U.S. at 54.

In this case, the district court provided a careful, lengthy 

explanation for Lockwood’s statutory-maximum sentence 

and the upward departure from the Guidelines. It explained 

that Lockwood’s propensity for violence and lack of remorse 

warranted a much harsher sentence than Curtis received for 

the same crime. The simple fact that Lockwood received a 

harsher sentence than some defendants convicted of similar 

crimes does not establish an unwarranted disparity. In our legal tradition, each defendant is treated as a unique individual 

and “every case as a unique study in the human failings that 

sometimes mitigate, sometimes magnify, the crime and the 

punishment to ensue.” Id. at 52. We hold that the district court

did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Lockwood to 120 

months’ imprisonment.

III. Conclusion

The sentencing order on remand adequately explains the 

district court’s decision to sentence Lockwood to the statutory 

maximum of 120 months. We find no procedural error and 

conclude that his sentence is within the bounds of substantive 

reasonableness.

AFFIRMED.

Case: 15-3856 Document: 27 Filed: 11/01/2016 Pages: 12