United States v. Groce, No. 14-50272 (5th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePeter Groce pled guilty to one count of receiving child pornography. In calculating Groce’s guidelines range, the district court applied enhancements for distributing child pornography for the receipt of a non-pecuniary thing of value under U.S.S.G. 2G2.2(b)(3)(B) and engaging in a pattern of activity involving sexual abuse or exploitation of a minor under U.S.S.G. 2G2.2(b)(5). As calculated by the pre-sentencing report, Groce’s guidelines range was 360 months to life imprisonment. The district court sentenced Groce to the statutory maximum, 240 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Groce argued that the district court incorrectly applied the distribution and pattern-of-activity enhancements. He also argued his sentence was substantively unreasonable. The Fifth Circuit concluded Groce’s arguments were meritless and any error was harmless.
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