In this case, the defendant participated in a plan to steal weapons from a house and then re-sell the weapons. He plead guilty to conspiracy to possess stolen firearms and ammunition as well as other related offenses.
The defense went into sentencing with character witnesses that he wished to call, and the sentencing court limited the defense presentation, which included repeated phrases like “please wrap it up.”
The Seventh Circuit found that there was no inherent right to call witnesses at sentencing given that they were able to submit letters to the District Court which it considered.
The Seventh Circuit also upheld the sentence as substantively reasonable.
The case is United States v. Teovonni Cunningham, 16-3543.