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Fourth Circuit: Procedurally Unreasonable Sentence Where District Court Failed to Address Defendant’s Non-Frivolous Downward Variance Argument Based on Sentencing Disparity 
Due to Which State’s Statute Prior Conviction Based Upon

Loaded on May 15, 2025 by Anthony Accurso published in Criminal Legal News June, 2025, page 28
Filed under: Sentencing, Failure To Consider Disparity, Federal-State Differences/Disparity/Conflicts, Disparity in Charging/Sentencing Practices. Location: West Virginia.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia abused its discretion by failing to address the defendant’s non-frivolous argument for a downward variance. 

Tytus Lamaar Shields was importing drugs for distribution in Parkersburg, West Virginia, ...

 

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More from this issue:

  1. Arguing Successful Federal Habeas Corpus Claims, by Dale Chappell
  2. Policing the Vulnerable: The Criminalization of Disability, by Casey Bastian
  3. Los Angeles Criminal Legal System Undermined 
by Months of Faulty DNA Testing, by Jo Ellen Nott
  4. Fourth Circuit: District Court Failed to Provide Sufficient Explanation for Sentence Imposed and Did Not Address Defendant’s Arguments for Downward Variant Sentence, by David Reutter
  5. Maryland Reforms Offer Second Chances on Expungement and Parole, by Jo Ellen Nott
  6. Minnesota Supreme Court Clarifies Standard for Determining Whether a Defendant Is Entitled to Jury Instructions 
on Self-defense and Defense of Others, by Douglas Ankney
  7. First Circuit Announces What Constitutes ‘Otherwise Using’ 
a Dangerous Weapon for Purposes of the Four-Level 
Enhancement Under Guidelines § 2B3.1(a), by Sagi Schwartzberg
  8. Car Subscriptions: Another Means of Mass Surveillance by Law Enforcement, by David Kim
  9. The Crushing Toll of Ohio’s Death Penalty: A Billion-Dollar Failure, by David Kim
  10. Illinois Supreme Court: Use of Flashlight by Police to See Through Small Gap in Chained and Padlocked Kitchen Cabinet Doors Constitutes ‘Search’ Under Fourth Amendment, by Jeffrey Cohen
  11. Illinois ‘Murderer’ Registry Punishes More Than It Protects, by Jo Ellen Nott
  12. Fourth Circuit: Procedurally Unreasonable Sentence Where District Court Failed to Address Defendant’s Non-Frivolous Downward Variance Argument Based on Sentencing Disparity 
Due to Which State’s Statute Prior Conviction Based Upon, by Anthony Accurso
  13. Rhode Island Supreme Court Announces Indigent First-Time Applicant for Postconviction Relief Entitled to Counsel Even 
When Not Requested; Superior Court Must Determine 
Whether Applicant Intended to Waive Right to Counsel and 
Whether Done Knowingly, Vol, by Phillip Wasserman, J.D.
  14. SCOTUS Announces Knowingly or Intentionally Causing 
Bodily Injury or Death by ‘Omission’ Necessarily Involves 
‘Use’ of ‘Physical Force’ for Purposes of § 924(c), by David Kim
  15. Blindfolded Juries, Coerced Convictions: 
Why Prosecutors Often Win Before Trials Even Begin, by Clark Neily
  16. Facial Recognition at the Border: CBP’s Push to Scan Every Car Passenger Sparks Privacy Concerns, by David Kim
  17. Bipartisan Legislative Wins in Virginia and Utah Expand 
Job Opportunities for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals, by Jo Ellen Nott
  18. South Carolina Supreme Court Announces Traditional 
Four-Element Standard for When Person Has Right 
to Use Deadly Force in Self-Defense Not Applicable 
to Non-Deadly Force Self-Defense Analysis, by Richard Resch
  19. Fingerprints as New Drug-Detection Method, by James Mills
  20. Mississippi Supreme Court Vacates Convictions, 
Holding Multiple Errors by State Resulted in ‘Legal Chaos’ 
That Deprived Defendant of Right to Fair Trial 
Under ‘Cumulative-Error Doctrine’, by Jeffrey Cohen
  21. SCOTUS Announces Rejection of ‘Moment-of-Threat 
Doctrine’ Because It Improperly Narrows Required 
‘Totality of the Circumstances’ Analysis for Fourth 
Amendment Excessive-Force Claims, by David Kim
  22. ‘Sexome’ Bacteria Offers New Path to Justice 
in Sexual Assault Cases Where 
DNA Is Not Present, by Jo Ellen Nott
  23. Georgia Eliminates Legal Standard That Sent Intellectually Disabled Prisoners to Death Row, by David Kim
  24. SCOTUS Announces Only ‘False’ Statements Made to FDIC 
Are Criminalized Under 18 U.S.C. § 1014, Not Statements 
That Are ‘Misleading’ but True, by Richard Resch
  25. News in Brief

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