Ohio Man’s 188-Month Prison Sentence Undone by Sixth Circuit

A repeat offender, sentenced to 188 months in prison for distributing controlled substances and unlawful firearm possession, shouldn’t have been deemed a career offender, the full Sixth Circuit said, vacating his sentence on Wednesday.

Because Cervenak’s robbery convictions weren’t “crimes of violence,” the district court shouldn’t have applied the career-offender guideline, Judge Andre B. Mathis wrote for the majority of the divided en banc court.

Cervenak had multiple prior felony convictions, including one conviction for trafficking heroin and two state-law robbery convictions, when he was convicted of robbing two people at gunpoint.

The career-offender guideline increases the sentencing range for ...