United States v. Demetrius Murphy

Seventh Circuit

United States v. Demetrius Murphy

629 F. App'x 763

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

DecidedNovember 23, 2015

Docket15-1602

StatusUnpublished

This text of 629 F. App'x 763 (United States v. Demetrius Murphy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

United States v. Demetrius Murphy, 629 F. App'x 763 (7th Cir. 2015).

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Opinion

Order

Demetrius Murphy is serving a sentence of 57 months’ imprisonment, which the district court imposed following his guilty plea to a felon-in-possession charge. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He presents a single contention on appeal: that the district judge did not thoroughly consider his contention that U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(3)(A)(i) is excessively harsh in setting the base offense level at 22 if the firearm was “capable of accepting a large capacity magazine” — a term that Application Note 2. defines as a magazine able to hold more than 15 rounds. Mur- *764 ph^s weapon, a Glock Model 17, had a magazine that could hold 30 bullets and actually contained 26 when the gun and magazine were seized. But for the large-capacity magazine, Murphy’s base offense level would have been 20 under § 2K2.1(a)(4)(A).

Murphy charges the district judge with ignoring his contention that the extra levels are an excessively severe response to the magazine’s capacity. But the district judge did not ignore that contention. Instead he remarked that a larger-capacity magazine allows a given gun to do more harm.

Judges are free to disagree with the Sentencing Guidelines, as Murphy urged the sentencing judge to do. See United States v. Corner, 598 F.3d 411 (7th Cir.2010) (en banc). But they are equally free to agree with the Sentencing Commission’s recommendations. The sentencing proceedings show that the judge agrees with the idea behind § 2K2.1(a)(3)(A)(i). It is unnecessary for a judge to say more than that. This court observed, when addressing the validity of an ordinance that limits magazines to ten cartridges, that a weapon able to fire more bullets without reloading can do more damage, holding all other things equal, than a weapon with a smaller magazine. Friedman v. Highland Park, 784 F.3d 406, 411 (7th Cir.2015). This part of the Guidelines, and the sentencing judge’s statement, rest on the same idea.

Affirmed

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Order

Demetrius Murphy is serving a sentence of 57 months’ imprisonment, which the district court imposed following his guilty plea to a felon-in-possession charge. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He presents a single contention on appeal: that the district judge did not thoroughly consider his contention that U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(3)(A)(i) is excessively harsh in setting the base offense level at 22 if the firearm was “capable of accepting a large capacity magazine” — a term that Application Note 2. defines as a magazine able to hold more than 15 rounds. Mur- *764 ph^s weapon, a Glock Model 17, had a magazine that could hold 30 bullets and actually contained 26 when the gun and magazine were seized. But for the large-capacity magazine, Murphy’s base offense level would have been 20 under § 2K2.1(a)(4)(A).

Murphy charges the district judge with ignoring his contention that the extra levels are an excessively severe response to the magazine’s capacity. But the district judge did not ignore that contention. Instead he remarked that a larger-capacity magazine allows a given gun to do more harm.

Judges are free to disagree with the Sentencing Guidelines, as Murphy urged the sentencing judge to do. See United States v. Corner, 598 F.3d 411 (7th Cir.2010) (en banc). But they are equally free to agree with the Sentencing Commission’s recommendations. The sentencing proceedings show that the judge agrees with the idea behind § 2K2.1(a)(3)(A)(i). It is unnecessary for a judge to say more than that. This court observed, when addressing the validity of an ordinance that limits magazines to ten cartridges, that a weapon able to fire more bullets without reloading can do more damage, holding all other things equal, than a weapon with a smaller magazine. Friedman v. Highland Park, 784 F.3d 406, 411 (7th Cir.2015). This part of the Guidelines, and the sentencing judge’s statement, rest on the same idea.

Affirmed

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Bluebook (online)

629 F. App'x 763, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-demetrius-murphy-ca7-2015.

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