United States v. Chorney

Defendant Harold Chorney, having been ordered in 1994 to pay $569,469 in restitution as part of a criminal sentence, appeals from a recent district court order requiring him to make installment payments of $500 per month. His principal arguments on appeal are that (1) the installment-payment provision is inapplicable and (2) his only two sources of income — a monthly social security benefit and a monthly veterans disability benefit — cannot be considered in determining his financial ability to make such payments.

Each of these arguments raises some knotty questions, as we will briefly explain.…