Big Booker twosome from the 7th Circuit

The Seventh Circuit today, in two important opinions that I cannot yet find on its website, expounded on post-Booker sentencing and appellate review for reasonableness. Fortunately, one of my favorite helpful readers sent me pdf copies of the opinions and I have made them available for download here.

In US v. Mykytiuk, No. 04-1196 (7th Cir. July 7, 2005), the 7th Circuit asserts, inter alia, that "any sentence that is properly calculated under the Guidelines is entitled to a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness."

Download mykytiuk_041196.pdf

In US v. Dean, No. 04-3172 (7th Cir. July 7, 2005), the 7th Circuit explains, inter alia, that "the sentencing judge can discuss the application of the statutory factors to the defendant not in checklist fashion but instead in the form of an adequate statement of the judge's reasons, consistent with section 3553(a), for thinking the sentence that he has selected is indeed appropriate for the particular defendant."  The Dean court also says that "the farther the judge's sentence departs from the guidelines sentence (in either direction—that of greater severity, or that of greater lenity), the more compelling the justification based on factors in section 3553(a) that the judge must offer in order to enable the court of appeals to assess the reasonableness of the sentence imposed."

Download dean_043172.pdf

Though I have been having lots of problems with technology today, I hope late tonight to be able to comments on both of these notable (and suspect?) rulings.