Sentencing — Above-guideline sentences

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Sentencing — Above-guideline sentences

Where the defendant sold 2800 false identification documents, and only 100 are required to place a defendant in the highest guideline range, an above-guideline sentence was reasonable.

“Under the guideline, as the number of false documents increased from 99 to 100 or more, Castillo’s offense level rose by three points, §§ 2L2.1(b)(2)(B), (C), which translates into an increase in the guidelines range from 27-33 months to 37-46 months—a 39 percent increase in his maximum guidelines sentence. He was estimated to have been responsible for 2800 documents.
We don’t see how imposing a sentence 30 percent above the guidelines range could be thought excessive punishment for 28 times the number of fraudulent documents that triggers the highest guideline sentence, when a 1 percent increase in documents (from 99 to 100) would have increased his maximum guideline sentence by 39 percent. It thus was icing on the cake that the
judge noted additional aggravating factors besides the number of documents, such as the defendant’s marketing computer software for producing still more counterfeit personal-identification documents.”

Motion Granted.

11-2792 U.S. v. Castillo

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Der-Yeghiayan, J., Posner, J.

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