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Sentencing — reasonableness

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//March 25, 2014//

Sentencing — reasonableness

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//March 25, 2014//

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U.S. Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Sentencing — reasonableness

A 720-month sentence for racketeering is not unreasonable.

“We find that the court properly exercised its sentencing discretion in Polchan’s case as well. The district court explained that it chose a sixty-year sentence because it wanted the length of imprisonment to ‘reflect[] the seriousness of [Polchan’s] ongoing criminal offense and provide[] a punishment that is just for all that he has done.’ The judge emphasized how ‘organized criminal activity performed over a long period of time, deliberate and purposeful, poses a greater threat to the very fiber of our community.’ And the judge described his conviction that a serious sentence was necessary because ‘the public needs to be protected both from Mr. Polchan and from the idea that organized criminal activity might well be worth something, might well be worth doing.’ Through this explanation, the court adequately tied its sixty-year sentence to the factors listed in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). We cannot say that its ultimate decision — which was within Polchan’s guidelines range — was unreasonable.”

Affirmed.

11-3022, 12-1180 & 12-1656 U.S. v. Volpendesto

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Guzmán, J., Flaum, J.

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