Justices: Coughlin due new sentence
Posted on Thursday, November 1, 2007
A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld a decision ordering a new sentence for former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive Tom Coughlin on a 2006 fraud conviction.
The decision by the 8 th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis denied Coughlin’s request that the full court reconsider an August ruling by a three-judge panel stating Coughlin’s health problems don’t warrant a lenient sentence.
Coughlin, 59, is serving house arrest at his ranch home and cattle farm near Centerton, his attorneys have said. He wears an electronic ankle monitor and can leave only for doctor’s appointments and church, court records state.
Wednesday’s ruling by the St. Louis appeals court means Coughlin will return to U. S. District Judge Robert Dawson in Fort Smith for resentencing.
In August 2006, Dawson sentenced Coughlin to 27 months of home confinement and five years’ probation. The judge fined Coughlin $ 50, 000 and ordered him to pay more than $ 400, 000 in restitution, both of which Coughlin paid in full the next month.
In January 2006, Coughlin pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion, admitting he stole gift cards and equipment from the world’s largest retailer. He also falsified vouchers and invoices in order to pocket the cash.
A protege of company founder Sam Walton, Coughlin retired in 2005 as Wal-Mart’s No. 2 executive after 28 years with the company.
At sentencing, the U. S. attorney’s office asked for Coughlin to serve at least 27 months in prison. Dawson, however, sided with defense attorneys who said Coughlin has severe coronary disease and other ailments and was too ill for prison.
Prosecutors appealed, criticizing Dawson’s decision to depart from sentencing guidelines and saying in court documents he relied on “irrelevant” and “inappropriate” factors.
Dawson said Coughlin was an “exemplary citizen who had suffered significant ridicule as a result of his prosecution.” He said Coughlin suffered possibly the “greatest fall from grace in American history” and that his worst punishment may have already been meted out to him in the “worldwide exposure” he’d received.
Coughlin’s attorneys could ask for permission to appeal Wednesday’s ruling to the U. S. Supreme Court. They didn’t return calls Wednesday.
Spokesmen for the U. S. attorney’s office and for Wal-Mart declined comment.
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