Sentencing

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Charles A. Evans

Case No.: 15-2287

Officials: FLAUM, MANION, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sentencing

Pleading guilty does not assure any reduction in sentence for acceptance of responsibility.

““When a sentencing court properly enhances a defendant’s offense level under § 3C1.1 for obstructing justice, ‘he is presumed not to have accepted responsibility.’” United States v. Ewing, 129 F.3d 430, 435 (7th Cir. 1997) (quoting United States v. Larsen, 909 F.2d 1047, 1050 (7th Cir. 1990)). In “extraordinary cases,” a defendant may initially obstruct justice and later accept responsibility. U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 cmt. n.4; United States v. Galbraith, 200 F.3d 1006, 1016 (7th Cir. 2000). Evans compares himself to the defendant in United States v. Lallemand, who cooperated with the police by retracting his instruction to an accomplice to destroy evidence. 989 F.2d 936, 937–39 (7th Cir. 1993), abrogated in unrelated part by United States v. Vizcarra, 668 F.3d 516, 523–25 (7th Cir. 2012). But the analogy is unsound because the defendant in Lallemand tried to terminate the planned obstruction immediately after he was arrested, whereas Evans embarked on a course of obstructive conduct after—and because—he had been detained on a probation hold.”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.