By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//March 31, 2014//
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Criminal
Sentencing — mandatory minimums — safety valve
Where the defendant did not truthfully provide information, the district court properly denied safety-valve relief from the mandatory minimum sentence.
“There is no dispute that Sandoval deceived court officers about his identity and citizenship. And the district court did not clearly err in finding that Sandoval failed to express extraordinary acceptance of responsibility for his crime and that he did not truthfully provide all information and evidence related to his criminal conduct at his safety-valve hearing. Therefore, the district court did not err in imposing the obstruction of justice enhancement, withholding credit for acceptance of responsibility, or denying safety-valve relief from the statutory mandatory minimum.”
Affirmed.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Der-Yeghiayan, J., Manion, J.