United States v. Shield, No. 15-2341 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendants Shield and Alford appealed their sentences of 180 months in prison after being convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. The district court did not abuse its discretion in applying an upward departure under USSG 5K2.21 or 5K2.0(a)(2)(B), because the government had carried its burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that defendants had committed the assaults and the robbery as charged in the indictment and the district court determined that upward departures were warranted to reflect the seriousness of the offenses; defendants' Sixth Amendment rights were not violated where the district court treated the guidelines as advisory and sentenced defendants below the statutory maximum; and the district court announced it would have imposed the same sentences based upon an upward variance using the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) factors alone, which provides an alternative proper basis for the sentences imposed. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Gritzner, District Judge, Author, with Smith and Colloton, Circuit Judges] Criminal Cases - sentences. In challenge to upward departure under Guidelines sec. 5K2.21, district court did not abuse its discretion in departing upward based on dismissed charge. Government carried its burden of showing by a preponderance of evidence that defendants committed the assaults and robbery charged in dismissed indictment and district court made individualized assessments that departures were warranted to reflect the seriousness of the offenses. Upward departure did not violate the Sixth Amendment, as they did not exceed the statutory maximums. The district court's announced it would impose same sentence based on section 3553(a) factors alone, which provides alternative proper basis for the sentences.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.