In U.S. v. McBride, No. 06-16544 (Dec. 28, 2007) (2-1) (Dubina, J., dissenting), on a government appeal, the Court affirmed an 84-month sentence – below the 151-188 months guideline range – and a ten-year term of supervised release – below the Guideline recommended life term – for a defendant convicted of distributing child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2)(B).
The Court rejected the government’s claim that the sentence was substantively unreasonable. The Court noted that it would reverse a sentence only if left with the definite and firm conviction that a clear error occurred in weighing the § 3553(a) factors. The Court cited the length of the 84 month sentence, as well as the district court’s reliance on the defendant’s history of abuse as a child, as bases for affirming the sentence.
