Gun Possession Sentence Three Times Guideline Maximum Vacated

A sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm that was three times the maximum recommendation in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines was deemed substantively unreasonable and vacated by the Sixth Circuit.

Although Dustin Stanton’s criminal history and the need to deter him from similar conduct in the future supported some upward variance of his sentence, they didn’t provide a “sufficiently compelling justification for a variance of this magnitude,” the unpublished opinion by Chief Judge R. Guy Cole Jr. said.

The guideline range for Stanton’s crime was 30 to 37 months and as part of a plea deal, the ...