US v. Bravo, No. 10-1380

Drug Sentence Affirmed

In US v. Bravo, No. 10-1380, the court affirmed defendant's sentence for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, where 1) the record as a whole indicated that the district court was aware of its discretion to vary from the Guidelines range and it did not commit error under Rita; and 2) under plain error review, even if the court assumed the district court erroneously presumed the Guidelines to be reasonable and such error was plain, defendant failed to show there was a reasonable probability that he would have received a more favorable sentence without the presumption.

As the court wrote:  "Antonio Espinoza Bravo ("Espinoza") pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(A) and 846. The district court sentenced Espinoza to 262 months' imprisonment. Espinoza appeals, arguing the district court committed procedural error when it concluded it was bound by the United States Sentencing Guidelines unless it could find specific reasons to conclude the Guidelines range was unreasonable. We affirm."

Related Resources

• Read the Eighth Circuit's Decision in US v. Bravo, No. 10-1380