Opinion ID: 4217301
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Flawed Guidelines

Text: Allen argues that her sentence was substantively unreasonable because the Sentencing Guidelines are “deeply flawed,” and the district judge abused his discretion by “giving too much weight to [them].” Allen’s argument alleges that the Guidelines are arbitrary and that fraud offenses are accompanied by a “cluster” of practically-inevitable enhancements, concluding that the resulting sentences are “inordinately harsh.” The district judge found that the Presentence Investigation Report correctly calculated Allen’s offense level to be 43, which yielded a Guidelines range of life. After hearing defense counsel’s arguments regarding the flaws in the Guidelines, the district judge decided to continue the sentencing to another day so he could consider those arguments and the government’s response to them. At the subsequent sentencing hearing, the district judge explained at length the consideration he had given to the parties’ arguments. As a result of his analysis of the factors delineated in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), the district judge reduced Allen’s offense level from 43 to 42, yielding a Guidelines range of 360 months to life. The district judge then imposed a sentence of 360 months. Although, as Allen points out, this is still effectively a life sentence given her age, imposing a below guidelines sentence evidences that the sentencing judge treated the guidelines as advisory and considered the § 3553(a) factors. The district judge’s lengthy discussion of the § 3553(a) factors provides further evidence of this. Under the deferential abuse of discretion standard, we do not conclude that the district court gave undue weight to the Guidelines. 20 No. 15-5525, United States v. Allen