In United States v. Aleo, 2012 FED App. 0134P (6th Cir. 2012), the Sixth Circuit reversed a total sentence of 720 months (60 years) for one count each of production, possession, and transportation of child pornography - each to run consecutively. The government had recommended 300 months.
The defendant, a 66-year-old Michigan man, had subscribed to multiple child pornography websites in addition to producing his own. The sentencing judge noted:
I think this is perhaps one of the most despicable cases that I have ever been involved in, in 28 years on the bench.... [T]here's no way that the sentencing guidelines are adequate ... to punish the defendant for what he has done to the victims and to make this thing right.
On appeal, the defendant argued that the 60-year sentence was unreasonable. The Sixth Circuit found the sentence to be procedurally reasonable, but reversed due to it being substantively unreasonable. The sentencing judge's suggestion that the sentencing guidelines were inadequate was questioned as "the Sentencing Guidelines do envision a crime such as [this]." Additionally, the court found that the sentence was harsher than that imposed for similar crimes.
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