United States v. Black, No. 11-1516 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseDefendant pled guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography. Defendant appealed his sentence. The court held that, even if the court assumed that the district court erred by not discussing defendant's argument regarding the child pornography guidelines, defendant had not shown a reasonable probability that he would have received a lower sentence but for the alleged error; the district court did not fail to adequately explain its reasoning for determining the sentence; defendant's sentence was substantively reasonable where the district court considered not only the nature of the offense but also defendant's characteristics weighing in favor of a more lenient sentence; and there was no error in imposing the internet restriction where defendant could still access the internet with the permission of a probation officer. Accordingly, the court affirmed the sentence.
Court Description: Criminal case - Sentencing. Claim that district court erred by failing to address argument that the child pornography guidelines are overinflated is rejected; district court adequately discussed the reasons for its sentencing decision; sentence was not substantively unreasonable; no error in imposing a restriction on defendant's use of the internet in light of the evidence which showed defendant used peer-to-peer software to commit the crime.
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