United States v. Allison, No. 14-2002 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseGriffin and Allison were charged with federal drug offenses arising from an investigation of drug trafficking by the Traveling Vice Lords street gang which operated on Chicago’s West Side. Griffin, Allison and four co-defendants were part of the operation that sold heroin at two locations. Allison and Griffin each pled guilty to conspiring between June 2008 and November 2010 to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 1 kilogram or more of heroin. Allison was sentenced to a prison term of 288 months. Griffin received a sentence of 210 months. The government conceded and the Seventh Circuit agreed that the district court committed reversible error at each sentencing by imposing discretionary supervised release conditions without explaining why the conditions for each defendant were reasonably related to the sentencing factors of 18 U.S.C. 3553(a). The Seventh Circuit rejected an argument that due process was compromised when the sentencing judge pronounced Allison’s sentence, then conferred with a probation officer and revised the prison term. The judge simply misspoke (saying 240 months when he meant 24 years, which equals 288 months) but caught himself. The Seventh Circuit upheld the district court’s calculation of drug quantity.
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