Sentencing Guidelines.

Byline: Derek Hawkins

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Anthony Loren Gardner

Case No.: 18-1731

Officials: FLAUM, KANNE, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sentencing Guidelines

Anthony Gardner was arrested after firing a gun at two vehicles thought to be driven by rival gang members. He pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a felon. The district judge imposed an above-Guidelines sentence based in part on Gardner's use of violence in a prior burglary.

On appeal Gardner argues procedural error. He insists that the so-called "categorical approach," with all its doctrinal arcana and limitations, applies when a judge exercises Booker discretion to impose an above-Guidelines sentence based on a defendant's aggravating conduct in a prior crime. Not so. The sentencing judge may consider aggravating circumstances in a defendant's criminal record without the constraints imposed by the categorical approach that usually applies to statutory sentencing enhancements and the determination of offense-level...