Lovely Rita, SCOTUS case...

The Supreme Court's decision to grant cert in Rita to consider reasonableness review for within-guideline sentences will sure lead to a lot of riffs on one of my favorite songs by The Beatles.  And I am now pleased to report that, thanks to the fine folks running the Middle District of North Carolina Federal Public Defender website, the cert petition in Rita, the Government's cursory 3-page response, and Rita's reply brief are all available at this link. 

The cert petition and other papers in Rita, just like the papers in Claiborne (provided here), should make fans of rigid guidelines quite concerned about the cases that SCOTUS selected for cert.  The underlying crime is Rita involves only mis-statements to a grand jury investigating the sale of machine-gun kits, and the defendant, Victor Rita, apparently still maintains his innocence.  Perhaps even more importantly, Victor Rita, according to the cert. petition, served 24 years in the Marine Corps, had tours of duty in Vietnam and the first Gulf war, and has received over 35 military metals and awards!  Also, Victor Rita is 57 years old and suffers serious health problems.  Talk about a sympathetic defendant.