2003 Decisions

Opinions of the United

States Court of Appeals

for the Third Circuit

6-18-2003

USA v. Vehoski

Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential

Docket No. 02-2395

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Recommended Citation

"USA v. Vehoski" (2003). 2003 Decisions. Paper 451.

http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2003/451
 

*Honorable Mary A. McLaughlin, United States District Judge for the Eastern District

of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation. 

NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

 

No. 02-2395

 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.

MARY ALICE VEHOSKI,

 Appellant

 

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

D.C. Crim. No. 00-cr-00292

District Judge: The Honorable Thomas I. Vanaskie, Chief Judge

 

Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)

June 6, 2003 

 

Before: BARRY, FUENTES, Circuit Judges, and McLAUGHLIN,* District Judge

 

(Opinion Filed: June 17, 2003)

 

OPINION

 
2

BARRY, Circuit Judge

Appellant Mary Alice Vehoski pled guilty to one count of health care fraud,

pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1347, based on an indictment charging that a company she

owned, Nurses Per Diem, billed Blue Cross for reimbursement of over $70,000 in nursing

services that were never provided to patients between September 1996 and September

1998. After crediting her acceptance of responsibility, the presentence investigation

report calculated that Vehoski had an adjusted offense level of 15 and 0 criminal history

points, for which the sentencing guidelines recommend a sentence of 18-24 months. The

District Court imposed the minimum sentence of eighteen months, finding no reason to

downwardly depart. Vehoski filed a notice of appeal pro se, and current counsel was

appointed. We denied his motion to withdraw as counsel, and this appeal followed. We

have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a), and will affirm.

Vehoski’s counsel filed an appellate brief raising only one issue: whether

Vehoski’s sentence violates her Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and

unusual punishment. This claim is based on the alleged cruelty of preventing Vehoski

from caring for her three young children for eighteen months while she serves her term of

imprisonment. “[F]amily ties and responsibilities ... are not ordinarily relevant in

determining whether a sentence should be outside the applicable guideline range.”

United States v. Sweeting, 213 F.3d 95, 99, 102-13 (3d Cir. 2000) (quoting § 5H1.6) (the

fact that defendant was single parent providing for five children, one of whom had
Tourette's Syndrome, did not constitute extraordinary circumstances justifying downward

departure). Moreover, an eighteen-month sentence for defrauding a victim of over

$70,000 is not “grossly disproportionate” to the crime. Lockyer v. Andrade, 123 S.Ct.

1166, 1173 (2003). Therefore, this issue is patently frivolous. 

Moreover, based upon our independent review of the record, we conclude that the 

District Court’s sentence comports with the applicable law and the sentencing guidelines. 

See 18 U.S.C. § 1347; U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES §§ 2B1.1(b)(1)(E), 3B1.3, 3C1.1. 

The record reveals compliance with Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 11 and 32 in the

conduct of the plea hearing and in the procedure followed at sentencing. We do not have

jurisdiction to review a reasonable sentence within the applicable guidelines range. See

18 U.S.C. § 3742(a); United States v. Denardi, 892 F.2d 269, 271-72 (3d Cir. 1989).

We affirm.

 /s/ Maryanne Trump Barry 

Circuit Judge