The circuits’ sentencing start to the shortest month

Though I do not see any ground-breaking work in the decisions below, a few extended sentencing opinions from the circuit courts to start February seemed worth flagging:

• Fifth Circuit: US v. Torres-Diaz, No. 05-40090 (5th Cir. Feb. 1, 2006) (available here) (addressing “crime of violence” definition)

• Seventh Circuit: US v. Sharp, No. 05-1449 (7th Cir. Feb. 1, 2006) (available here) (lots of guideline application issues)

• Ninth Circuit: US v. Blandin, No. 05-10316 (9th Cir. Feb. 1, 2006) (available here) (applicability of a downward adjustment)