United States v. Jennifer Jesse, 950 F.3d 552

Jennifer Michelle Jesse pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced in federal court; she appealed her federal sentence based on how a prior Iowa sentence was scored for criminal history.
In 2001 Jesse received a two-year suspended sentence and 18 months’ probation for meth possession (second offense); multiple probation violations led to custodial time through April 2003.
On July 24, 2003 an Iowa judge revoked probation and imposed an indeterminate sentence not to exceed two years and ordered commitment to the Iowa DOC.
DOC personnel informed Jesse’s counsel that, given credit for time served, she had effectively served the term and should not be transported; counsel moved on July 24 to discharge the sentence, the State did not oppose, and on July 25 the state court entered an order discharging the prison sentence and vacating the transport order.
At federal sentencing the parties disputed whether the July 2003 sentence was greater than 1 year and 1 month (which would trigger 3 criminal-history points under the Guidelines); the district court treated the July 24 sentence as two years and scored the points, producing a higher Guidelines range; the court imposed 175 months. Jesse appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the July 25, 2003 state-court discharge reversed or replaced the July 24 sentencing judgment so the prior sentence counts as less than 1 year and 1 month for Guidelines scoring	Jesse: The July 25 order discharged the previously imposed sentence (i.e., functionally resentenced to time-served), so it should be treated as a shorter sentence and not trigger 3 criminal-history points	Government: The July 24 judgment imposed a two-year indeterminate sentence; the July 25 order merely discharged execution due to credit for time served and vacated transport — it did not amend the sentence; Guidelines count the sentence pronounced, not time actually served	Affirmed: The court held the July 24 sentence remained a two-year sentence; the July 25 discharge did not alter the sentence for Guidelines purposes and points were properly assigned

United States v. Drake, 942 F.2d 517 (8th Cir. 1991) (criminal-history points are based on the sentence pronounced in the judgment, not time actually served)
United States v. Urbizu, 4 F.3d 636 (8th Cir. 1993) (district courts should rely on the language of the sentencing court's written judgment to determine the nature of a prior sentence)
United States v. Rutherford, 599 F.3d 817 (8th Cir. 2010) (standard of review: Guidelines application de novo; underlying factual findings for clear error)