Opinion ID: 3002652
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reasonableness of Sawyer’s sentence

Text: Sawyer’s final argument is that the district court imposed an unreasonable sentence of 260 months. We review a district court’s application of the sentencing guidelines de novo and its factual findings for clear error. United States v. Hollins, 498 F.3d 622, 629 (7th Cir. 2006). Ultimately, our review is concerned with the reasonableness of the defendant’s sentence, based on the calculation of the guidelines and the discretionary factors enumerated in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). A properly calculated within-guidelines sentence is entitled to a non-binding presumption of reasonableness on appeal. Rita v. United States, 127 S. Ct. 2456, 2462 (2007). Sawyer concedes that her 260-month sentence was properly calculated and was within the range specified by the relevant sentencing guideline. She argues, however, that the sentence was “likely enhanced from a sentence at or near the bottom of the guidelines of 235 months due to the court’s finding that Sawyer did not tell the truth during her testimony.” The supposedly untruthful testi18 No. 08-2236 mony related to the source of money found in her home (Sawyer claimed it was from a deceased relative), her reasons for joining the conspiracy (she claimed she was under duress) and her overall role (she claims she only made introductions). Sawyer argues that this was improper because the district court did not find at the jury instructions conference that Sawyer’s testimony on the duress defense was false, and declined to impose a two-level enhancement to her offense level based on obstruction of justice. Her argument is that if the district court did not bar her proffered jury instruction because of false testimony or impose an enhancement for obstruction of justice, it is not entitled to find that Sawyer was untruthful in her testimony. The government argues that the district court’s determination that Sawyer did not tell the truth in her testimony simply represented the district court’s decision to credit the testimony of Sawyer’s accomplices—who presented her as a central figure in the conspiracy—rather than Sawyer’s testimony. Such a decision is within the district court’s discretion and does not make the sentence unreasonable. Sawyer’s sentence is harsh, considering that she has no previous criminal record: 260 months works out to nearly twenty-two years in prison. That the law imposes such a severe sentence on a first-time offender whose circumstances present a case for leniency is a reflection of the severe penalties that Congress has legislated for drug crimes, and a sentencing regime that uses the weight of drugs in the entire conspiracy as a baseline for the sentencing of each member of that conspiracy. The No. 08-2236 19 sentence was within the relevant guideline range of 235 to 293 months, however. In deciding not to depart from the guidelines range, the district court cited, among other § 3553(a) factors, the need to deter methamphetamine dealers and the serious nature of trafficking meth. The district court also found that a sentence in the middle of the applicable guideline range was warranted because of Sawyer’s “failure to accept responsibility, and go[ing] so far as to tell the jury things that weren’t true . . . .” While it is true that the district court did not find that Sawyer obstructed justice through her testimony, the district court was entitled to find that she had misled the jury, minimized her own role in the conspiracy, or otherwise failed to accept responsibility. Our review of this factual predicate is limited to clear error, and we find none in this case. The district court’s findings are consistent with the jury verdict—they found Sawyer guilty, and their verdict is incompatible with Sawyer’s testimony that she was a marginal player in the overall conspiracy. The district court was thus entitled to find that Sawyer had failed to accept responsibility for her crimes, and that this in tandem with other factors required a sentence of 260 months.