THE ROBING ROOM

6th Circuit reversed Judge Bell's sentencing of a child molester. The case is US vs Christopher Brattain 07-1594. He failed to apply a five-level enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. §4B1.5(b), stating that the enhancement applied only to offenders who had abused multiple victims, and Brattain had abused a single victim over a period of seven years. The government argued that the district court’s failure to apply the enhancement was in error because Brattain qualified as a repeat offender, and Congress explicitly revised the enhancement to apply to repeat offenders who abuse only a single victim.