United States v. William Thomas Semsak

This case involves the fatal combination of alcohol and an eighteen-wheel tractor-trailer. William Thomas Semsak, drunk behind the wheel of his big-rig truck, collided with a car, killing its driver. Semsak pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and now appeals his sentence. The district court departed upward four levels in sentencing Semsak, reasoning that the size of the truck and the recklessness of Sem-sak’s driving took the case outside the heartland of the offense guideline. See Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81, 96 , 116 S.Ct. 2035 , 135 L.Ed.2d 392 (1996). Because the district court interpreted the guidelines correctly, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Late one night in July 2001, Semsak drove an eighteen-wheel tractor-trailer on a stretch of highway on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana. Semsak’s truck carried lumber and weighed 78,220 pounds. He had a bottle of Everclear liquor with him in the cab, and his blood-alcohol content was later measured at 0.17 percent — nearly twice the legal limit in Montana.

Other drivers saw Semsak’s truck weaving across the highway, kicking up dust as it wandered to the opposite shoulder, its trailer fishtailing. One…