United States v. Sanchez-Lopez
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
858 F.3d 1064 (2017)
Jesus Sanchez-Lopez (defendant) pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the United States after a long history of illegal reentries and violent crimes, having previously served eighteen months for a prior violation of the same statute. Although the sentencing guidelines recommended a maximum of twenty-one months, the judge imposed twenty-four months after explicitly weighing the factors favoring Sanchez-Lopez but concluding that his prior in-range sentence had failed to deter him from reoffending; Sanchez-Lopez appealed the above-guidelines sentence.
Whether a sentencing judge may impose a sentence above the federal guidelines range based specifically on the need to deter a defendant whose earlier in-range sentence already failed to stop his repeated illegal reentry.