Sentencing

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: 15-3547

Case No.: United States of America v. Shaft Jones

Officials: 15-3547

Focus: Sentencing

A federal jury found the defendant guilty of conspiring to possess, with intent to distribute, five or more kilograms of cocaine, and of related crimes including carrying a gun in connection with drug trafficking. The district judge sentenced him to 270 months in prison.

“. . . Jones challenges his sentence, arguing that he wasn’t responsible for more than 50 kilograms of cocaine. But the district judge had two good reasons to think he was: calculating backward from the money the government seized, and relying on testimony that Jones had purchased 90 kilograms through one of the brokers. The government 6 No. 15‐3547    had the defendant cold, and the district judge was on solid footing in saying that a sentence above the guideline range would be reasonable given the magnitude of Jones’s criminal activity, though ultimately the judge sentenced Jones within the guidelines range.”

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.