Sentencing Guidelines Enhancement.

Byline: Derek Hawkins

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Darin Kaufmann

Case No.: 18-2742

Officials: EASTERBROOK, KANNE, and BRENNAN, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sentencing Guidelines Enhancement

For certain federal crimes involving sexual exploitation of minors, a federal statute 18 U.S.C. 2252(b)increases the mandatory minimum sentence when the defendant has a prior conviction "under the laws of any State relating to," among other things, "possession of child pornography." Darin Kaufmann pled guilty to two federal crimes involving sexual exploitation of a minor.

The district court imposed an enhanced mandatory minimum sentence under 2252(b) because Kaufmann has prior convictions for possession of child pornography under an Indiana statute. Kaufmann challenged his sentence, arguing that his prior state convictions do not support a 2252(b) enhancement because the Indiana statute of his convictions criminalized conduct broader than the federal version of possession of child pornography.

In United States v. Kraemer, we held that a 2252(b) enhancement does not require the state statute of conviction to be the same as or narrower than the analogous federal...