United States v. Jauron, No. 15-2378 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendant pled guilty to sexual exploitation of children and to commission of a felony offense involving a minor while being required to register as a sex offender. On appeal, defendant challenged his sentence of 480 months in prison. Given the district court's explicit statement that it would have sentenced defendant to 480 months in prison even if an error in the Guidelines calculation were found, the court concluded on this alternative ground that any error would be harmless. The court also concluded that defendant's within-guidelines sentence was substantively reasonable where the district court considered the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) factors. In this case, that the repugnant aggravating factors were properly considered, reversal is not justified in light of the district court’s careful consideration of such factors, and the district court did not abuse its discretion when it sentenced defendant to 480 months or life imprisonment.
Court Description: Shepherd, Author, with Colloton, Circuit Judge, and Moody, District Judge] Criminal case - Sentencing. Errors defendant raises, assuming they were errors, did not affect his total offense level as his offense level exceeded the offense level ceiling with or without the challenged enhancements, and any error was harmless; further, the court stated it would impose the same 480-month sentence without the enhancements, making any error harmless; the district court considered the 3553(a) factors defendant relied upon in his argument for a lesser sentence, and defendant's within-guidelines range sentence was substantively reasonable in light of the repugnant aggravating circumstances present in the case.
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