United States v. Zuk

The Fourth Circuit vacated the district court's sentence after defendant pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. The court held that defendant's plea agreement explicitly preserved the government's appellate rights and thus defendant's argument that the appeal was barred by an implied appellate waiver was rejected. On the merits, the court held that the conditions of defendant's autism spectrum disorder only marginally affected his criminal conduct and did not justify relieving defendant from the need for more serious punishment as consistent with the 18 U.S.C. 3553 factors. Therefore, the sentence imposed was substantively unreasonable. The court remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Zuk" on Justia Law