Sentencing

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Jack Clayborne

Case No.: 23-2370

Officials: Flaum, Brennan, and Kolar, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sentencing

Jack Clayborne was convicted for involvement in an attempted carjacking. Clayborne, alongside two accomplices, tried to carjack Michael Guster, during which Clayborne fired five shots, one hitting Guster. He faced charges including attempted motor vehicle robbery, firearm discharge during robbery attempt, and firearm possession by a felon. Clayborne was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to 234 months in prison.

Clayborne appealed, and the case was sent back for resentencing when the government agreed to drop the firearm discharge charge. Before resentencing, Clayborne wrote a letter expressing remorse, but the court deemed it insufficient for a sentence reduction based on acceptance of responsibility. Clayborne was resentenced to 223 months and appealed again.

On appeal, Clayborne contested two aspects of his sentence: the denial of a reduction for acceptance of responsibility and the district court’s statement about his criminal history involving “a lot of” robberies despite no prior robbery convictions. The appeals court found no procedural error in denying the acceptance of responsibility reduction and no evidence of incorrect information used in determining the sentence. Consequently, the district court’s decision was upheld.

Affirmed.

Decided 06/27/24

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