United States v. Peel, No. 11-2776 (7th Cir. 2012)
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Defendant was sentenced to 60 months for bankruptcy fraud, 144 months for obstruction of justice, and 120 months for possession of child pornography, all to run concurrently. The Seventh Circuit remanded with directions that to vacate either the bankruptcy fraud conviction or the obstruction of justice conviction, recalculate the intended loss, and resentence defendant. On remand the district judge imposed the same total sentence but reduced the special assessment by $100. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, noting that appeal after remand is limited to issues that could not have been raised in the prior appeal. Vacating defendant’s conviction for obstructing justice for double jeopardy reasons did not provide a compelling reason for a shorter sentence. The overall sentence was within the adjusted combined guidelines range (135 to 168 months) for multiple counts of conviction. U.S.S.G. 3D1.4, 5G 1.2(d). The court rejected defendant's arguments concerning the child pornography charge, which involved pictures he had taken of his 16-year-old sister-in-law and had used to try to blackmail his ex-wife. The only changed circumstance, a defiant allocution, undermines rather than supports the challenge to the sentence reimposed on remand.
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