United States v. De La Cruz

Defendant, a long-time leader of the Chicago-area Latin Kings street gang, had 10 convictions, including a 2008 Illinois conviction for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He served his prison sentence; the statute was later invalidated. In 2014, he was convicted of aggravated discharge of a firearm and has remained in prison. In a federal racketeering prosecution, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. 1962(d) and argued that the judge should reduce his sentence for the time he had already served in prison on charges related to conduct that was part of the ongoing racketeering conspiracy. He did not dispute the factual allegations and received no criminal history points for the 2008 conviction. Because telephone recordings showed that he continued to act in furtherance of the conspiracy while in prison, the probation officer counted the 2014 offense toward his criminal history score and not toward the score for his underlying offense in accordance with the Guidelines. The district judge, noting the prison sentence he was still serving, imposed a 210-month sentence, at the bottom of the Guidelines range, to be served concurrently with the remainder of Defendant’s state sentence. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, citing the discretionary nature of the Guidelines relating to downward departures for discharged prison sentences. The court rejected an argument based on the inequality of Defendant serving more time than his codefendants, who had previously avoided prison time despite ongoing participation in gang activities. View "United States v. De La Cruz" on Justia Law