Cite as: 503 U. S. 193 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
which the guideline range was 21 to 27 months. Id., at 53- 54. The court then sentenced Williams to 27 months' imprisonment and explained that it was selecting a sentence at the high end of the guideline range because Williams had previously been convicted for the same offense and because he had threatened an undercover agent in this case. Id., at 55-56.1
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the conviction and the sentence. 910 F. 2d 1574 (1990). It agreed with the District Court that, under the circumstances of this case, the two outdated convictions were "reliable information" indicating more extensive criminal conduct than was reflected by Williams' criminal history category. Id., at 1579. It rejected, however, the District Court's reliance upon Williams' prior arrests not resulting in prosecution. Although the Guidelines allow a court to consider "prior similar adult criminal conduct not resulting in a criminal conviction" in determining whether a departure is warranted, they prohibit a court from basing a departure on a prior arrest record alone. USSG § 4A1.3, p. s. The Court of Appeals asserted that "the determination that the arrests indicated similar criminal conduct must be based on facts apart from the arrest record itself," 910 F. 2d, at 1580, and held that the District Court had not adequately explained the factual basis for its use of Williams' prior arrests as a ground for departure. Ibid.
Although it invalidated one of the two grounds mentioned by the District Court in its decision to depart, the Court of Appeals nevertheless affirmed Williams' sentence. It relied upon the Seventh Circuit precedent of United States v. Franklin, 902 F. 2d 501 (CA7), cert. denied sub nom. Mann
1 Our reading of the sentencing transcript thus does not accord with the dissent's understanding that the District Court also considered Williams' prior conviction for the same offense in its decision to depart. See post, at 208.
197
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007