United States v. Rothbard

Defendant appealed his 24 month prison sentence after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud. Defendant's conviction stemmed from his participation in a scheme to defraud companies that were interested in obtaining loans for environmentally friendly upgrades to their facilities. Defendant committed the offense while he was on probation for a felony forgery conviction in Indiana. At sentencing, the district court considered defendant's leukemia as it considered what sentence to impose, but it was unpersuaded that defendant's medical condition justified a noncustodial sentence. The court concluded that this was not a case in which the only substantively reasonable sentence would have been one that kept defendant out of prison. In this case, the district court weighed evidence supporting a noncustodial punishment, as well as evidence supporting some time in prison, including the nature of his crime, the fact that he committed it while on probation, and the factual finding that BOP would be able to serve his medical needs. The court concluded that the district court did not commit clear error in its fact finding, and the sentence was substantively reasonable. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Rothbard" on Justia Law