United States v. Bridges, Furman

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge GARLAND.

GARLAND, Circuit Judge:

Defendant Furman Bridges pled guilty to one count of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341. The district court departed upward from the sentence Bridges would otherwise have received under the United States Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”) by increasing his criminal history category from II to V. Bridges appeals his sentence on two grounds.. First, he contends that in explaining why it chose Category V, the court erred by not first pausing and explaining why Categories III and IV were inadequate. Second, he…