United States v. Davis, No. 18-2204 (8th Cir. 2019)
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The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence imposed after he pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm as a previously convicted felon. The court held that defendant's claim that the district court erred in concluding that defendant's prior Iowa robbery conviction was a crime of violence for purposes of USSG 4B1.2(a) was moot in light of the district court's alternative ruling that it would have imposed the same sentence under the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) factors even if it had wrongly decided the "crime of violence" issue.
The court was satisfied that the district court considered the alternative guideline range and imposed the 63-month sentence as an upward variance from this alternative range. Furthermore, defendant's sentence was not substantively unreasonable in light of the serious aggravating factors, and the district court considered and weighed the mitigating factors.
Court Description: Colloton, Author, with Gruender and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. Claim that the district court erred in determining defendant's prior Iowa robbery conviction was a crime of violence for purposes of Guidelines Sec. 4B1.2(a) was moot in light of the court's alternative ruling that it would have imposed the same sentence under the 3553(a) factors; the district court considered defendant's arguments for an alternative guidelines range and imposed the sentence as an upward variance from that alternative range; the sentence was not substantively unreasonable in light of the serious aggravating factors in the case, including defendant's criminal history and the violent conduct of the crime; the court considered defendant's mitigating factors and did nor err in weighing them.
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