Firearms – sentencing — career offenders

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Firearms – sentencing — career offenders

In sentencing a defendant for felon in possession of a firearm, the district court did not err in counting a prior conviction for conspiracy to commit robbery as a crime of violence and finding the defendant a career offender under the Sentencing Guidelines.

“Section 924(e) uses the definition of ‘violent felony’ to set 15-year minimum sentences. The Sentencing Commission does not prescribe such a stern and inflexible outcome by defining ‘crime of violence.’ The career-offender Guideline raises the offense level without setting a mandatory minimum. It is just another Guideline, so the judge is free to impose a sentence outside the Commission’s preferred range after evaluating each defendant’s arguments. See United States v. Corner, 598 F.3d 411 (7th Cir. 2010) (en banc). Raupp was free to contend that a conviction for conspiracy to commit robbery does not imply the same level of dangerousness as a conviction for robbery, and to seek a lower sentence on that account. But he does not assert that the district judge misunderstood the extent of her discretion or exercised it unreasonably. His sole contention is that district judges must ignore the first application note to §4B1.2, and that contention does not carry the day.”

Affirmed.

11-2215 U.S. v. Raupp

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Pratt, J., Easterbrook, J.