United States v. Vigil, No. 12-1066 (10th Cir. 2012)
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Denise Ann Vigil appealed a twelve-month prison sentence imposed she received earlier this year following a series of revocations of probation or supervised release. Appellant argued her sentence was unreasonable because, although she “remained unmotivated throughout her term of supervised release,” and had a “propensity to misstate the truth,” those characteristics do “not constitute ‘severe’ or ‘exceptional’ behavior.” The Tenth Circuit affirmed: "her argument conveniently fails to recognize how her behavior has compounded her circumstances - -a teaching moment apparently lost. . .The first judge used a carrot, encouraging her rehabilitation through participation in programs; her behavior remained unchanged. The second judge dangled another carrot, to no avail. He then used a stick, imposing incarceration followed by supervised release; still no change. The attempts to “provide the defendant with . . . correctional treatment in the most effective manner” utterly failed. . . All that was left was to impose 'just punishment' for her most recent breach of trust."
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