Case 1:15-cr-00093-VEC Document 262 Filed 04/20/16 Page 55 of 63
Mr. Silver’s chronic conditions and need for constant monitoring are relevant considerations this Court can, and should, consider. See United States v. Wadena, 470 F.3d 735, 737, 740 (8th Cir. 2006) (affirming sentence of five years’ probation, down from Guidelines range of 18 to 24 months’ imprisonment, where defendant was sixty-seven years old and had “several chronic health conditions”); United States v. Rioux, 97 F.3d 648, 663 (2d Cir. 1996) (affirming downward departure where defendant had a chronic condition that required “regular blood tests and prescription medicines” and “monitoring”); Carmona-Rodriguez, No. 04-cr-667, 2005 WL 840464, at *4 (finding a non-Guidelines sentence warranted and noting that it was “significant” that the defendant was “suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes”). E.
The Need to Avoid Unwarranted Sentencing Disparities
18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(6) instructs the Court to impose a sentence that “avoid[s] unwarranted disparities among defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of similar conduct.” The 262-327-month sentence pre-determined by the Guidelines, or even the 120-month sentence recommended by the Probation Office, would create just such a disparity. Without denigrating the seriousness of the crimes for which Mr. Silver stands convicted, we ask the Court to consider the sentences imposed in the following public corruption cases, which we believe illustrate the unfairness of the effective life sentence sought by the Government: 1.
Robert McDonnell
Governor of Virginia Robert “Bob” McDonnell, age 61 at sentencing, accepted money and gifts in exchange for his efforts to assist a pharmaceutical company to secure state testing of one of its new pharmaceutical drugs. United States v. McDonnell, 792 F.3d 478, 485-88 (4th Cir. 2015), cert. granted in part, 136 S. Ct. 891 (Jan. 15, 2016). During a five-week jury trial, the evidence revealed that Mr. McDonnell was “lavished” by the company with “shopping -48-