Court Opinion

ID: 9482246
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:44:34.322594+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:51.645433
License: Public Domain

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree that the conviction must be affirmed. But the sentence seems to rest on such incredible assumptions that it deserves another look by the able district judge.
*355The scenario underlying the sentence called for the burglar Diaz to meet with Ferra almost every day, including Sundays and holidays, in order to trade stolen goods for cocaine 200 times over a period of 30 weeks. I suppose it is conceivable for a highly motivated burglar to burgle at such a frenzied pace, but for him to meet and transact business with his “fence” that frequently is simply unimaginable. The alternative rationale furnished by the majority (based on the amount of cash discovered) was discounted by the district court, which must, in any event, make these determinations in the first instance.
The majority too lightly regards the requirement that aggravating factors must be found by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Fonner, 920 F.2d 1330, 1333 (7th Cir.1990); United States v. White, 888 F.2d 490, 499 (7th Cir.1989). In the majority of cases the Sentencing Guidelines provide for stiffer penalties for baseline offenses than federal judges were wont to deliver when their discretion was less restricted. See United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual 1.9 (1990) (original policy decisions of Commission projected to lead to 10% increase in prison populations); United States Sentencing Commission, Annual Report 1989 66 (policy decisions of Commission embodied in 1989 amendments expected to lead to approximately 5% further increase). If enhancements may be applied at a judge’s discretion, Guideline sentencing becomes a one-way street: district judges may impose arbitrarily high sentences, but not arbitrarily low sentences.
I do not suggest that the district judge abused his discretion in imposing sentence on Ferra. But the record makes clear that the sentence is exactly that — an exercise of discretion. This is a practice that the Guidelines do not allow.