Ruling makes sentencing challenges harder

WASHINGTON, June 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a decorated veteran's challenge to a 33-month prison term Thursday, in a ruling expected to make similar appeals harder.

The high court, in an 8-1 decision, upheld a finding by a federal appeals court that a sentence within the guidelines is "presumptively reasonable."

Victor Rita, a veteran of the Vietnam War and the 1991 Gulf War and a former federal employee, was sentenced for lying to a grand jury during an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms into the sale of machine-gun kits. The trial judge gave him a sentence at the low end of the guidelines. Rita's lawyer sought a lower sentence, citing his health and other factors including his military service.

Federal sentencing has been uncertain since the court ruled last year that the guidelines, adopted 20 years ago, are advisory, not mandatory.

Justice David Souter was the only dissident in the Rita case.