10-1080 U.S. v. Bradley

Sentencing
Reasonableness

Where the district court calculated a sentencing range of 57 to 71 months, but imposed a 240-month sentence based on unsubstantiated speculation about the defendant’s prior criminal conduct and likelihood of recidivism, the sentence must be vacated.

“[T]he greater concern is the absence of support for the district court’s assumptions that Bradley had committed undiscovered crimes and thus was likely to commit more if released. Bradley rightly questions the propriety of the court’s disparaging comments, particularly the glib response to his mother’s plea for mercy. We recently observed that a ‘litany of inflammatory remarks’ can undermine the entire analysis of a sentencing judge. United States v. Figueroa, 622 F.3d 739, 743-44 (7th Cir. 2010); see United States v. Lopez, 974 F.2d 50, 52 (7th Cir. 1992); United States v. Schneider, 910 F.2d 1569, 1571 (7th Cir. 1990). Here, the court’s unnecessarily harsh and exaggerated language by itself gives us pause, but when we also consider the speculation underlying the court’s reasons for the extreme variance from the guidelines range, we simply cannot conclude that the court imposed a reasonable sentence.”
Vacated and Remanded.

10-1080 U.S. v. Bradley

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Gilbert, J., Per Curiam.

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