US v. Curry: Curry sold gold coins on eBay. Problem was, he "sold" coins which he never had in his possession. When the deals began to fall apart and jilted buyers complained, the FBI came calling. Curry was charged and convicted by a jury of multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and unlawful monetary transactions. At sentencing, Curry's Guideline range came out to be 41 to 51 months. However, the district court imposed a sentence of 12 months on each count (served concurrently), along with 12 months of home confinement, following Curry's argument for a Booker variance. The Government appealed the sentence and the Fourth Circuit vacated and remanded for resentencing.
On remand (pre-Gall), the district court varied again, but only down to 36 months. In doing so, it indicated that any greater variance would only result in another reversal from the Fourth. At a post-sentencing bond hearing, the court said if it were not "laboring under the Fourth Circuit's constraints I would have done something considerably different." Not surprisingly, Curry appealed. Equally unsurprisingly, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the sentence. Noting that it could only pass judgment on the sentence actually given ("That the district court judge expressed frustration with the law does not make the law any less binding"), the court concluded that the 36-month sentence imposed by the district court was reasonable.
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