Opinion ID: 197582
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: how the sentence derived

Text: 5 The district judge pondered several pieces of evidence at the disposition hearing. Among these was a handwritten statement appended to the PSI Report, in which the appellant admitted to purchasing guns knowing that he was legally forbidden from doing so. In a second handwritten statement, also appended to the PSI Report, Mrs. Brewster chronicled 17 years of horrific domestic abuse. She explained that sheer terror had forestalled any contact with the authorities before August of 1996: she feared not only for her life, but also for what might happen to her children if she were slaughtered. Her fear of bodily harm stemmed from her husband's repeated minations during years and years of physical abuse. She described incidents in which the appellant threw her on the floor and stomped on her cranium with heavy work boots, banged her head against a counter, threw knives at her, and at various times smothered, kicked, punched, bit, and strangled her. In addition, she had been threatened with every kind of brutal death possible. 1 6 The appellant made little effort to conceal his abusive behavior. In recorded interviews with the state police, several neighbors and friends described incidents involving physical violence and vulgar language, and reported that they had heard the appellant threaten to kill his wife on several occasions. 7 After making an upward adjustment for multiple weapons, U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(1)(A), and a downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility, U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1, Judge Carter settled upon an offense level (OL) of 18. He then assessed criminal history points for an armed robbery conviction and a breaking and entering conviction but overlooked seven other convictions because of their age or the unavailability of records. The resultant point score placed Brewster in criminal history category (CHC) III. This matrix (OL 18; CHC III) yielded a guideline sentencing range (GSR) of 33 to 41 months. 8 The government urged the court to depart upward on the ground that Brewster's CHC underrepresented the gravity of his past criminality and the corresponding risk of recidivism. The appellant objected. The ensuing debate centered around U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3 (1995), pertinent portions of which are reproduced in the Appendix. Judge Carter expressed concern about whether section 4A1.3's language and structure permitted a departure based on spousal abuse, especially since that abuse--which he considered relevant but not similar to the offense of conviction--had never been adjudicated as criminal conduct. In the last analysis, however, the judge opined that the case qualified for a departure because of the 17-year history of unrelieved domestic violence and the existence of seven prior convictions for serious crimes that had not been counted in arriving at the CHC. The judge then mentioned a third factor, declaring that the appellant's refusal effectively to pursue an alcohol abuse program or to undertake domestic abuse counseling [a]dd[ed] to all of this in terms of the unusual character of this case. 9 Turning to the matter of degree, the court determined that the upward departure should be fashioned by simulating an increase from CHC III to CHC V. The court stressed that a sentence at the upper limit of the simulated GSR (51-63 months) would produce a prison term of approximately five years, which, when followed by the maximum available term of supervised release (three years), would keep the appellant away from his wife until their youngest child had reached age 18. At that time, the court reasoned, Mrs. Brewster would no longer be held hostage in an abusive situation by her concern for her children. The court added that a sentence of that magnitude was appropriate in recognizing the serious nature of this prior criminal conduct as related conduct to the offense conduct of possession of the firearm. 10 When all was said and done, the court sentenced the appellant to serve an incarcerative term of 63 months, followed by a three-year term of supervised release (the conditions of which, among other things, proscribed any contact or communication with his wife absent written permission from the court). This appeal followed.