United States v. Fuentes-Echevarria

Police stopped Raymond Fuentes-Echevarria (defendant) after seeing him drive his car in reverse down the middle of a street; he fled but was later arrested with a machine gun, an automatic pistol, and ammunition hidden in a secret compartment. He pleaded guilty to illegally possessing the machine gun, and although the sentencing guidelines recommended 21 to 27 months given his limited record and acceptance of responsibility, the government requested 60 months. The judge imposed 48 months plus supervised release, explaining he wanted to reduce the 'arsenal of weapons' in Fuentes-Echevarria's violent, drug-infested neighborhood, while also citing Fuentes-Echevarria's flight from police and concealment of the weapons as case-specific factors supporting an upward variance. Fuentes-Echevarria appealed, arguing the judge overemphasized general community deterrence and underweighted personal mitigating factors.