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Tenth Circuit thoughtfully conducts reasonableness review

By Douglas A. Berman

Though not appearing to break any new ground, the Tenth Circuit today in US v. Martinez-Barragan, No. 06-2333 (10th Cir. Oct. 21, 2008) (available here), provide a good example of an appellate court taking its obligation to conduct reasonableness review very seriously.  Based on my quick review, the facts and issues in Martinez-Barragan seem to make it a classic "mine-run" case in which the defendant was giveng a bottom-of-the-applicable-guideline-range sentence.  But even though little seems extra special about the case, the panel in Martinez-Barragan clearly took a lot of time (and 20 pages) to explain why the sentencing decision below was not unreasonable.  Though the defendant and his counsel surely are unhappy with the result, they at least can be confident that the Tenth Circuit gave their claims serious consideration.continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).