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Juvenile adjudication of "discontinuance" not a "sentence" under 4A1.2. Improper Guidelines calculation not harmless error.

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

United States v. Langford, No. 06-2774 (3d Cir. February 22, 2008) - Langford entered a guilty plea to bank robbery, armed bank robbery, and carrying and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. At sentencing, defense counsel argued that a prior juvenile adjudication that was "discontinued" should not be counted in Langford?s criminal history category. Specifically, that a "discontinuance" was not a sentence under § 4A1.2(a) and therefore a point should not be added - making Langford a category III, rather than a IV. The sentencing court disagreed and ruled that the "discontinuance" counted under § 4A1.2(a) and concluded that Langford was a criminal history category IV.On appeal Langford argued that the district court improperly calculated his criminal history score and, as a result, started with an incorrect Guidelines range in the sentencing process...continue to full post

Full post as published by Third Circuit Blog on March 04, 2008 (boomark / email).