US v. Arbaugh:
Arbaugh pleaded guilty to traveling in foreign commerce to engage in illicit
sexual activity, based on travels to Haiti during which he abused several young
boys. At sentencing, the district court overruled Arbaugh’s objection to the imposition
of a two-point enhancement for undue influence of a minor and calculated the
advisory Guideline range to be 235 to 295 months in prison. The district court
imposed a sentence of 276 months, after both Arbaugh and the Government argued
for variances (in opposite directions). For Arbaugh’s lifetime term of
supervised release the district court also imposed special conditions that he
submit to warrants searches of his computer and related devices and prohibit
him from owning encryption materials.
On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed
Arbaugh’s sentence of imprisonment, but vacated and remanded with regards to
the special conditions of his term of supervised release. As to the
imprisonment, the court first affirmed the application of the two-level
enhancement, concluding that it was no double counting a factor already
considered by the base Guideline, because it was focused on influence rather
than age itself (although age, per the Guideline Commentary, is relevant to
determining influence). The court also concluded that the district court
provided a sufficient explanation for the sentence of imprisonment it imposed
and that the sentence was substantively reasonable. As to the lifetime term of
supervised release, however, while the court affirmed the length of the term,
it held that the district court failed to adequately explain several of the
special conditions it imposed. In particular, the court rejected the Government’s
attempt to save the conditions by pointing to evidence in the record that
supports them because that could not substitute for explanations from the
district as to why it imposed the specific conditions at issue.
Congrats to the Defender office in the WDVA on the (partial) win!
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