United States v. Boykin, No. 16-1593 (8th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his 98 month sentence after pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and two counts of distribution of a controlled substance. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion by giving more weight to defendant's criminal history than to the drug quantity in his charge; the district court did not give significant weight to an improper factor and the court rejected defendant's contention that it improperly weighed the unsubstantiated assertion that he got a "rush" from selling drugs; and the district court did not abuse its discretion in its final determination of defendant's sentence where the sentence was necessary to achieve the statutory aims of federal criminal punishment, which include deterrence. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Per Curiam - Before Riley, Chief Judge, and Smith and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. Defendant's sentence, an upward variance, was not substantively unreasonable; the court did not abuse its discretion in finding defendant's multiple charges for heroin distribution to be a substantial threat to the community despite the low volume of his sales; the court did not give significant weight to an improper factor by commenting on the "rush" associated with the lifestyle of drug dealing; nor did the court err in considering the deterrent effect of the sentence.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.