Court Opinion

ID: 9484250
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:45:42.717816+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:50:07.083881
License: Public Domain

BOOCHEVER, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I reluctantly agree with this opinion. Under the applicable law and the sentencing guidelines in effect at the time Henderson committed the offense of being a felon in possession of a firearm, I agree that we have no alternative but to reverse the upward departure regardless of my sympathy with the trial judge’s effort to reach a result somewhat more in the public’s interest. Nevertheless, I am shocked at the result which will release this apparently vicious and dangerous person on society in the very near future.
The record indicates that Henderson committed a particularly atrocious murder in which he mutilated a woman with a beer can opener. A second woman identified Henderson as having attacked her, inflicting wounds on her body and forcing some type of tool into her vagina. Upon being released on parole, he molested a child of tender age. After his conviction and sentence for that crime, he was again quickly paroled only to be arrested on the current charge of purchasing two handguns which he alleged were for the purpose of “shooting varmints.” It does not take an expert on recidivism to conclude the chances are high that this individual will commit another violent crime.
We have been informed by the Department of Justice that the California Department of Corrections has discharged Henderson from all forms of California supervision effective April 28,1992, in order “to allow federal authorities exclusive jurisdiction.” We have no further explanation of the California Department of Corrections’ action in this case, and of course it is not a party to this appeal. Based on our limited information, however, Henderson’s release on society is the result of bureaucratic and judicial decisions that the public will be unable to understand and which reflect adversely on our entire judicial system.
I write this concurrence with a sense of frustration and in the remote hope that it may prevent the similar release of individuals guilty of the type of conduct here involved.