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Downward Variance Reversed, Held Procedurally and Substantively Unreasonable

By Candace Hom, Melinda Ghilardi, Nancy Rimmer, Sarah Gannett, Renee Pietropaolo and Tieffa Harper

In United States v. Goff, No. 05-5524 (3d Cir. Aug. 30, 2007), the panel unanimously held both procedurally and substantively unreasonable a four-month below-guideline sentence in a possession of child pornography case.As part of a wider investigation into an international child pornography enterprise, Goff?s home was searched and two computer hard drives were seized. A few images were found on one of the drives, but the other contained hundreds of images in the ?deleted? file. Goff pleaded guilty to a single count information charging possession of at least 3 images of child pornography. Included in the PSR, and apparently adopted by the DCT at sentencing was a Guideline range of 37 to 40 months, which included 5-level increase in the offense level for possession of more than 600 images (§2G2...continue to full post

Full post as published by Third Circuit Blog on September 04, 2007 (boomark / email).