Defendant-appellant Jesse Reed pled guilty, without a plea agreement, to one count of receipt of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2)(A), and one count of possession of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B). The district court (Mordue,
On appeal, Reed challenges the procedural reasonableness of his sentence, specifically the district court's two-level increase in his offense level pursuant to U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual ("U.S.S.G." or "Guidelines") § 2G2.2(b)(3)(F). We apply
We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history of the case, and the issues presented for review.
Section 2G2.2(b)(3) of the Guidelines provides a range of enhancements for child pornography offenses involving distribution. A five-level enhancement applies if the offense involved distribution "for the receipt, or expectation of receipt, of a thing of value, but not for pecuniary gain." § 2G2.2(b)(3)(B). Pursuant to § 2G2.2(b)(3)(F), a two-level enhancement applies if the offense involved distribution other than distribution described in § 2G2.2(b)(3)(A) through (E).
We recently held in
Reed argues that there is insufficient evidence to support the district court's application of a two-level enhancement pursuant to § 2G2.2(b)(3)(F). We do not decide the legal sufficiency of the evidence, but we remand for further proceedings. Where, as here, the district court failed to make a finding of fact necessary to apply an enhancement under the Guidelines, we vacate the sentence and remand the case for further proceedings.
The pre-sentence report recommended a five-level enhancement pursuant to § 2G2.2(b)(3)(B). In his sentencing memorandum, Reed objected to the enhancement, arguing "[t]here is no proof in the probation report or in any of the discovery materials . . . that Mr. Reed was aware of or made a conscious decision to activate `file sharing' on his computer because he received or expected to receive something of value." At sentencing, the district court agreed that the five-level enhancement was unwarranted "because there is no evidence that [Reed] shared or distributed child pornography in anticipation of or while reasonably believing in the possibility of the receipt of child pornography in return." Instead, the district court explained it was applying the two-level enhancement pursuant to § 2G2.2(b)(3)(F) "because the forensic evidence confirms that more than 600 image and video files of child pornography were located in peer-to-peer sharing folders on [Reed's] computer and these files are being offered for sharing."
The district court did not, however, make any finding as to whether Reed "knowingly plac[ed]" child pornography files into shared folders.
We acknowledge that there is evidence in the record that Reed was a sophisticated and long-time computer user. While these facts arguably could support an inference that Reed knew he was placing files in a peer-to-peer sharing folder, the district court did not make such a finding, as
Accordingly, we