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4th Circuit: Trial courts may not presume reasonableness of Guidelines sentences.

By Marks & Katz, LLC

 Bill of Rights. (From the public domain.)   Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit confirmed that trial courts may not presume reasonableness of Guidelines sentences:  While an appellate court reviewing a sentence may presume that the sentence within a properly calculated Guidelines range is reasonable, see United States v. Go, 517 F.3d 216, 218 (4th Cir. 2008), the sentencing court may not, in sentencing a defendant, rely on this presumption. See Gall v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 586, 596-97 (2007) (citing Rita v. United States, 127 S. Ct. 2456 (2007)). Rather the sentencing court must "first calculate the Guidelines range, and then consider what sentence is appropriate for the individual defendant in light of the statutory sentencing factors, 18 U...continue to full post

Full post as published by Underdog on May 27, 2009 (boomark / email).