Logan Tutwiler v. Department of Justice, SF-0752-23-0485-I-1

The appellant, Logan Tutwiler, was removed from his position at the Department of Justice and from federal employment.
Tutwiler appealed his removal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), arguing that mitigating factors were not properly considered and that removal was too harsh a penalty.
An administrative judge initially affirmed the agency’s decision to remove the appellant.
Tutwiler filed a petition for review, alleging errors in the administrative judge’s findings and application of mitigating factors.
The Board reviewed the petition under 5 C.F.R. § 1201.115, considering whether there were erroneous findings of fact or law, procedural errors, or new evidence.
The Board ultimately denied the petition for review and affirmed the initial decision, making it final but nonprecedential.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Proper consideration of mitigating factors	Agency failed to properly consider all relevant mitigating factors	Mitigating factors were fully considered	Properly considered by agency
Appropriateness of removal as penalty	Removal was too severe; a lesser penalty was warranted	Removal was an appropriate penalty	Removal was appropriate
Errors in findings of material fact/law	Administrative judge made legal/factual errors	No significant errors in findings/law	No basis for overturning decision
Availability of new/material evidence or argument	New evidence/argument warranted reconsideration	No new or material evidence presented	No new basis for reconsideration

Perry v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 582 U.S. 420 (2017) (clarifies right to district court review in mixed discrimination cases)