United States v. Anderson, No. 11-2121 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseDefendant pleaded guilty to one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and was sentenced to 144 months' imprisonment followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Defendant appealed the length of his sentence as substantively unreasonable and the special conditions of his release. The court held that defendant's sentence was substantively reasonable where the district court properly considered the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) factors, varied upward from the Guidelines range due to the egregiousness of defendants conduct, and considered the potential for unwarranted sentencing disparities and the desire to protect the public. The court also held that the district court did not commit plain error by prohibiting defendant from consuming alcohol where alcohol was used in the instant offense as part of the grooming process. The court further held that the district court did not plainly err in prohibiting defendant from possessing sexually explicit materials. Accordingly, the sentence and the special conditions were affirmed.
Court Description: Criminal Case - Sentencing. District court properly considered the 3553(a) factors and varied upward from the Guidelines range due the egregiousness of defendant's conduct, the potential for unwarranted sentencing disparities and the desire to protect the public; as a result, the sentence was substantively reasonable; the district court did not plainly err in imposing a special condition of supervised release which included a lifetime ban on alcohol consumption; while the court should have more fully articulated its reasoning for imposing a lifetime ban on the possession of material depicting or describing sexually explicit conduct, that error does not require reversal in light of the sentencing record, and the imposition of the special condition is affirmed. [ January 03, 2012
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