United States v. Iverson

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The Sentencing Guidelines' obstruction-of-justice enhancement covers false statements made to obtain appointed counsel. Defendant pleaded guilty to failure to register as a sex offender and challenged the length of his prison term and some of the conditions of his supervised release. The Fifth Circuit followed the previous decisions of this court and those of the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits in holding that lying to a judicial officer, as defendant did in this case, to obtain appointed counsel qualifies as obstruction under the Guidelines. The court vacated the second condition of supervised release because allowing private therapists to set restrictions on a defendant's conduct, without the court having to approve those restrictions, usurps a judge's exclusive sentencing authority. The court affirmed in all other respects. View "United States v. Iverson" on Justia Law