U.S. v. Annoreno

United States of America v. Brian A. Annoreno, a/k/a "Acidburn" was a court case in which imposing a 480-month sentence on a nearly-blind man with was upheld as reasonable by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, because it fell within the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines range and because it was permissible to consider the defendant's mental disabilities an aggravating factor. Evidence had been presented concerning Annoreno's low IQ (71), his susceptibility to being led by others, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, depression, manic depression, and bi-polar disorder. Annoreno had pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to receive, transport, and distribute child pornography, receipt of child pornography, and possession of materials containing child pornography. The sentencing court noted:

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He is a man who's had very bad luck. He's had very bad luck because of his genetic inheritance, which is not his fault․ But he was born with some disabilities; and while disabilities often mitigate, and in a moral sense in this case may very well mitigate the offense, in some circumstances—and this is one—they aggravate the sentence. His mental abilities will make—in my experience, will make his therapy, to the extent there is therapy for this because there are many who get it and don't benefit, would make his therapy difficult to accomplish, but mainly, more than anything else, he is a follower. No one disagrees on that. And that idea of administering the website is part of his being a follower, not really part of being a leader. But the trouble is that he has a need now for something that is not only illegal, but it is destructive to children; and I don't think he has the ability to control it.

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