United States v. Little

• Decision Date: 09 May 2007
• Docket Number: No. 07-1789.,07-1789.
• Citation: 485 F.3d 1210
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Steven R. LITTLE, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

485 F.3d 1210

UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Steven R. LITTLE, Appellee.

No. 07-1789.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: April 17, 2007.

Filed: May 9, 2007.

Philip M. Koppe, Asst. U.S. Atty., Kansas City, MO (Bradley J. Schlozman, U.S. Atty., on the brief), for appellant.

James R. Hobbs, Wyrsch Hobbs & Mirakian, P.C., Kansas City, MO (Nathan J. Owings, on the brief), for appellee.

Before BYE, BEAM, and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

The Government appeals the district court's order permitting Steven R. Little to remain free on bail and to self-surrender following his conviction and sentence to 60 months in prison for attempting to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b). We granted the Government's motion for an expedited appeal, and after briefing from both sides, we reverse and remand.

The question presented is whether there are any 18 U.S.C. § 3145(c) "exceptional circumstances" in the case which would permit Mr. Little to escape the otherwise mandatory requirement of 18 U.S.C. § 3143(a)(2) that he be immediately confined following sentencing for the crime of violence he committed. The district court found three circumstances it deemed to be "exceptional": (1) the conduct of law enforcement officers in arresting Mr. Little following his indictment, rather than permitting him to self-surrender as his attorney had informed the authorities he would do. The circumstances of the arrest are described as "the FBI sent multiple agents to Mr. Little's house, evacuated a portion of the neighborhood, and entered the house with guns drawn." Appellee's Br. at 4; (2) the fact that Mr. Little cooperated in the investigation, voluntarily gave incriminating statements, consented to the seizure of his computer, and his full compliance with pretrial release conditions; and (3) his timely appearance at all court proceedings.

None of the circumstances relied upon are "exceptional." We have said that "exceptional" means "clearly out of the ordinary, uncommon, or rare." United States v. Larue, 478 F.3d 924, 926 (8th Cir.2007). It is not exceptional to expect every defendant to timely appear in court and to obey the court's order concerning pretrial conditions of release. Nor is it clearly out of the ordinary, uncommon, or rare for defendants to cooperate in the investigation of their criminal acts.

We also fail to see any connection between the circumstances of the appellee's...