United States v. Turlington

*Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that
this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except
under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.
United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
February 20, 2004
Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 03-10523
Summary Calendar
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
FRANCISCO TURLINGTON,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Texas
USDC No. 4:02-CR-222-ALL-A
Before JONES, BENAVIDES and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Francisco Turlington appeals his 24-month sentence
following his guilty-plea conviction for making false statements to
federal investigators. The investigation stemmed from allegations
that Turlington, a correctional officer, was having sexual rela-
tions with female inmates. The investigation confirmed that
Turlington had 30 sexual encounters with six different inmates.

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2
Turlington contends that the district court erred in
departing upward to a sentence of 24 months’ imprisonment.
Turlington argues that the district court’s justification for the
upward departure, that U.S.S.G. §§ 3D1.2 and 3D1.4 would assign one
unit for each sexual encounter, as opposed to one unit per victim,
and that the resulting guideline range did not adequately reflect
the seriousness of the crimes, was incorrect.
Whether the standard of review is abuse of discretion or
de novo, the district court did not err in its grouping analysis
under U.S.S.G. § 3D1.4. See United States v. Bell, 351 F.3d 672,
675-77 (5th Cir. 2003); U.S.S.G. § 3D1.4. Moreover, the district
court gave acceptable reasons for departing, and the extent of the
departure was reasonable. See United States v. Ashburn, 38 F.3d
803, 807 (5th Cir. 1994)(en banc).
AFFIRMED.

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