09-3976 U.S. v. Brown

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Sentencing
Child pornography

Where the district court imposed a below-guideline sentence, the sentence was reasonable.

“Here, the district court went beyond what we deemed sufficient in Pape. Not only did the district court explicitly recognize its discretion to deviate from the guidelines based on comparisons between Brown’s crime and other serious crimes, it actually made such comparisons—including a comparison between Brown’s
offense and the offense of violent sexual assault on a child. Based on these comparisons, the district court imposed a sentence more than five years shorter than the shortest sentence within the guidelines range.”

“The district court properly based Brown’s sentence on the § 3553(a) sentencing factors. It accounted for the sentences applicable to other serious offenses. It also based its decision on the scale of Brown’s collection and trading, Brown’s disturbing and graphic discussions related to his trading, his demonstrated interest in carrying out the fantasies that motivated his offenses, and his personal history and characteristics. On these bases, the district court imposed a reasonable sentence of 240 months’ imprisonment.”

Affirmed.

09-3976 U.S. v. Brown

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Hamilton, J., Kanne, J.

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