United States v. James Eugene Smallwood

On June 30, 1992, a grand jury indicted James Eugene Smallwood on one count of unarmed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a). Ultimately, Smallwood pleaded guilty, and the district court sentenced him to 160 months of incarceration followed by three years of supervised' release. Smallwood appeals his sentence. We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal pur suant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We vacate and remand for resentencing.

I.Facts

James Eugene Smallwood pleaded guilty to the June 19, 1992, unarmed bank robbery of a First Interstate Bank in Mission Viejo, California. The presentence .report calculated Smallwood’s sentencing guideline range at 57 to 63 months based on an adjusted offense level of 20 and a criminal history category of IV. At the November 4, 1992, sentencing hearing, the district court departed upward because of its belief that U.S.S.G. § 4Al.l(e) did not adequately take into account the fact that Smallwood committed the instant offense only three months after being paroled for virtually the same offense and because of its belief that Smallwood’s assignment to criminal history category IV did not adequately reflect the seriousness of his past criminal…