Appeals court vacates sentence for theft of train-yard guns

CHICAGO – An appeals court has vacated the more than 7 1/2-year prison sentence for a man convicted for his part in a 2015 theft of more than 100 guns from a rail yard in Chicago.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday that U.S. District Judge John Tharp erred when he enhanced Dandre Moody’s sentence on the grounds that Moody sold 13 of the guns to people he knew were involved in crimes.

Tharp told Moody at his sentencing that violent criminals buy “guns that have been stolen off trains” and Moody must have known that.

The appeals court said prosecutors hadn’t shown Moody knew any such thing and Tharp “plainly crossed the line that separates permissible commonsense inference from impermissible speculation.”

Moody will now be resentenced.