Criminal Law: Assault-Health Care Fraud-Substantive Reasonableness of Sentence

Defendant appealed the sentence imposed following her conviction for assault and health care fraud. Defendant had assaulted her daughter and significant other to obtain pain medication for defendant’s own use; the injuries and lack of proper treatment ultimately resulted in amputations. Defendant challenged the substantive reasonableness of the sentence, arguing that it was unjustified by the record and the district court’s explanation.

Where the district court imposed a within-Guidelines sentence, it had wide latitude in assigning weight to various sentencing factors, and the record showed that the district court considered defendant’s mitigation evidence.

Judgment is affirmed.

U.S. v. One Horn (MLW No. 79588/Case No. 21-3548 – 5 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Smith, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, District of South Dakota, Viken, J. (Bryan Dean, AFPD, of Bismarck, ND for appellant) (Megan Poppen, AUSA, of Rapid City, SD for appellee)