United States v. Cookson

McHUGH, Circuit Judge.

Daniel Eugene Cookson pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing child pornography after the FBI identified him in the course of its large-scale sting operation involving the website "Playpen." At his sentencing hearing, the district court determined Mr. Cookson's criminal history and total offense level correlated to a Guidelines range of 97-121 months. The district court announced its intention to sentence Mr. Cookson to a term of seventy-two months' imprisonment. But after entertaining argument from both parties and inviting Mr. Cookson's allocution, the district…