US v. Burleigh: In 2010, Burleigh (and another person) carjacked and kidnapped a driver of a recently-parked car, forcing him to withdraw money from multiple ATMs. Burleigh “punched” the victim “multiple times,” threatened to kill him and his family, as well as shoving a shotgun in the victim’s “mouth and forced him to suck on its barrel.” Burleigh pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and two §924(c) firearm counts. He was sentenced to a total of 545 months in prison (420 months derived from the §924(c) charges). In 2020, Burleigh filed a compassionate release motion based on his young age, rehabilitation while incarcerated, and the stacked §924(c) sentences. While recognizing Burleigh’s rehabilitation and the impact of the §924(c) charges, the district court noted that Burleigh was 24 years old when the offense was committed and concluded that a reduction was not warranted in light of the serious nature of that offense.
A divided Fourth Circuit affirmed the denial of Burleigh’s compassionate release motion. It concluded that the district court by “its express terms” considered the §924(c) disparity issue but “simply did not find compelling” the argument that Burleigh would get a lower sentence today, noting that it did not feel that the disparity warranted a reduced sentence. The court also concluded that the district court had properly considered Burleigh’s arguments in total, not just as separate individual bases for relief. Finally, the court found the district court’s discussion of the §3553(a) factors sufficient.
In dissent, Judge Gregory argued that the district court’s consideration of those issues was not sufficient and, therefore, the denial of Burleigh’s motion was an abuse of discretion.
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