District court sufficiently explained upward variance of 19 months in vehicular homicide case.

United States v. Axline, --- F.4th --- (6th Cir. 2024) involves a vehicle accident in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. One passenger in defendant Bryce Axline’s car was killed and another suffered severe permanent injuries. At the time of the crash, Mr. Axline was intoxicated and driving 90 miles an hour which was twice the speed limit. He pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in violation of Tennessee law and 18 U.S.C. §§ 7(3) and 13. The plea agreement specified that he “would be ‘subject to a like punishment’ under the penalties specified by Tennessee law.” Slip Opin. 2, n.2.

The guideline range was 37 to 46 months (total offense level 21 and criminal history category I). Mr. Axline was sentenced to 65 months imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release. The Sixth Circuit affirmed that sentence over Mr. Axline’s argument that it was substantively unreasonable because the district court did not provide sufficiently compelling reasons for a 19-month upward variance. The primary factors underlying the Sixth Circuit’s decision were the severity of the offenses and Mr. Axline’s criminal history.

Mr. Axline first argued that the district court gave too much weight to the nature and seriousness of the offenses because the involuntary manslaughter guideline (U.S.S.G. § 2A1.4(a)(2)) already took the seriousness of vehicular homicide into account. The Sixth Circuit, however, concluded that the guideline “does not necessarily contemplate the lethal combination of Axline’s decision to drink underage and his decision to fully accelerate his car at over 90 miles an hour on a winding mountain road.” Slip Opin. 7 (emphasis original). Neither do the guidelines “necessarily adequately account for the effect of [his] actions on multiple victims.” Id. at 8. Thus, the district court did not abuse its discretion by determining that Mr. Axline’s recklessness was outside the heartland of similar cases.

Mr. Axline’s next argument was that the district court overemphasized his criminal history by crediting misdemeanor convictions and other conduct for which no criminal history points were given. He maintained that the prior misdemeanor convictions were not similar to the present offenses and his criminal history score already took into account any repetitive or serious conduct.

The district court expressed concern that Mr. Axline had been arrested or cited four different times between the ages of 18 and 19 for conduct involving drugs and/or alcohol. The court was particularly troubled by Mr. Axline’s conviction for an offense involving the underage use of alcohol only two months before the car crash. Moreover, Mr. Axline admitted daily use of marijuana and regular consumption of alcohol.

The Sixth Circuit acknowledged that “the link” between Mr. Axline’s criminal history and the present offense “is weaker” than cases in which an upward variance was affirmed primarily on the defendant’s “pattern of criminal history.” Slip Opin. 10. Nevertheless, the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding that Mr. Axline’s prior underage substance abuse was sufficiently related to his present conviction, “because the instant offense was likely caused—or, at the very least, exacerbated—by [his] drinking” and he had been charged with an underage alcohol offense two months earlier. Id. Furthermore, criminal history was considered in conjunction with Mr. Axline’s history and characteristics and was only one of the factors underlying the upward variance.  

Lastly, Mr. Axline raised the issue of an unwarranted sentencing disparity and cited Sentencing Commission data to support his argument. The Sixth Circuit rejected the argument and stated that where an upward variance is based on other § 3553(a) factors, a district court “is not required to consider national sentencing statistics, regardless of whether it enters a within-Guidelines sentence or one that falls outside of the Guidelines range.” Slip Opin. 13 (citation omitted).