United States v. Wayne L. Wells

Wayne Louis Wells, a felon, was found in possession of a firearm and charged with a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1) (West Supp.1989). Wells pleaded guilty to the charge and a presentence report was prepared, as required by the Sentencing Reform Act. 18 U.S.C. § 3552 (West Supp. 1989). Applying the categories established by the Sentencing Commission, the presen-tence report gave Wells a criminal history rating of IV and his offense a “total offense level” of seven. Based on these two ratings, the Sentencing Guidelines recommend a sentencing range from eight to fourteen months. The district court, however, sentenced Wells to twenty-four months incarceration. In this appeal, Wells challenges the district court’s departure from the Sentencing Guidelines. We vacate the sentence and remand for further proceedings.

The district court explained its decision to depart from the Sentencing Guidelines’ recommended sentence as follows:

This brief statement is the only explanation in the record for the district court’s upward departure from the Guidelines. The district court did not specify the events in Wells’ criminal history that the court found inadequately represented by a category…