Fifth Circuit reverses another below-guideline sentence as unreasonable

Continuing the reasonableness review trend, the Fifth Circuit today in US v. Armendariz, No. 05-20427 (5th Cir. June 5, 2006) (available here), reverses as unreasonable a below-guideline sentence.  Armendariz has a little twist, because the variance only involved the district court's decision not to impose any term of supervised release. Armendariz provides a pretty thorough review of the Fifth Circuit's approach to reasonableness review, and here is a key closing paragraph:

Especially in the case of a sex crime -- and particularly for one involving a child -- the need for deterrence, protecting the public, and providing the offender with necessary correctional treatment are highly relevant factors that should have been effectuated in the sentence that the district court imposed.  Because the sentence in this case fails to reflect any of these statutory goals, and because the district court substantially deviated from the advisory Guidelines range without articulating valid, fact-specific reasons for doing so, the sentence is unreasonable insofar as it lacks a term of supervised release.