DENVER, CO – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has affirmed the 10-year federal prison sentence of Billy Waitman, who was convicted of assault resulting in serious bodily harm after attacking his terminally ill mother in her hospice bed.
Waitman challenged the sentence as substantively unreasonable, arguing it was nearly four times the advisory range under federal sentencing guidelines. However, the court found that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma had properly justified the upward variance.
The appellate panel noted that such a significant departure from the guideline range requires strong reasoning from the sentencing judge. In this case, the court concluded that the district judge sufficiently explained the rationale under the sentencing factors outlined in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), including the nature and circumstances of the offense.
The incident resulted in Waitman’s mother dying three days after the assault.
The panel found no abuse of discretion and affirmed the district court’s judgment.
The case is United States v. Waitman, No. 24-6240.
