US v. Vrdolyak, No. 09-1891

Defendant's conviction for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and sentence to five years probation, with a community-service obligation but no confinement and a $50,000 fine, is reversed and remanded as, while a judge can give a below-guidelines sentence, the sentence cannot stand if it is based on a legal, factual, or analytic error that is not harmless as it is in this case.  

Read US v. Vrdolyak, No. 09-1891

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division

Decided January 29, 2010

Judges

Before:  Posner, Manion and Hamilton, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Circuit Judge  Posner