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Two important (but unpublished!?!) defendant wins in the Eighth Circuit

By Douglas A. Berman

I am not sure what bother me more: the fact that federal defendants rarely prevail in sentencing appeals or the fact that when they do some circuit seem eager to suggest these rulings are inconsequential by deciding they should be "unpublished."  Two rulings from the Eighth Circuit today, as reported on its official opinion page, get more worked up on this topic today.  Here are the unofficial summaries: US v. McDonald, No. 05-1617 (8th Cir. Mar. 4, 2008) (available here):[UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Bye, Beam and Gruender, Circuit Judges]:  On remand from the Supreme Court for reconsideration under Gall v. U.S.  Under the more deferential abuse-of- discretion review outlined in Gall, the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing defendant to 132 months, and the sentence is affirmed...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 04, 2008 (boomark / email).