[MSN] Four men currently serving 87-month sentences for stealing rare books and manuscripts from the Transylvania University library could receive additional prison time.

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Appeals court: Transy library thieves should receive more prison time
By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave at herald-leader.com

Four men currently serving 87-month sentences for stealing rare books and
manuscripts from the Transylvania University library could receive
additional prison time.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday
that Charles Allen, Eric Borsuk, Warren Lipka and Spencer Reinhard - all
from Lexington - should have received more time than the 7 years, 3 months
they were given after they pleaded guilty to the theft in April 2005.

The appeals court said the judge, when calculating the sentence, did not
include the cost of all the books that the men tried to steal on Dec. 17,
2004.

Borsuk and Lipka were startled on their way out of the library; they dropped
several books and left two rare and valuable volumes of Birds of North
America by naturalist John James Audubon in the special collections library
because the books apparently were too heavy.

Borsuk and Lipka stole a total of five volumes and manuscripts.

When U.S. District Judge Jennifer Coffman sentenced the four men, she used
sentencing guidelines that provide a range based on such things as previous
criminal record and the amount stolen. But she accounted for only the five
objects that were stolen from the library.

Federal prosecutors appealed that decision, saying the total amount of what
the four men intended to steal should have been used when calculating their
sentence.

The three-judge appellate court panel agreed, saying that a robber "'takes'
an object . when the robber exercises dominion and control over that
object."

The opinion states that the men carried several items out of the library's
special collections area but later dropped them. "Just because they did not
cross the library threshold with these objects does not mean they had not
taken them," the court opinion states.

If the additional items are taken into account, the opinion says, the
sentencing guidelines would call for a range of 108 to 135 months in prison,
or nine years to 11 years, 3 months, rather than the 87 to 108 months that
Coffman relied on.

The appeals court remanded the case for a new sentence to be handed down.

The court also rejected appeals by the four men, who argued that a stun pen
they used during the theft should not have been considered a dangerous
weapon for sentencing purposes. Using a dangerous weapon during such a crime
calls for an enhanced sentence.

The court says the stun pen, which was used on a Transy librarian, caused
the librarian to be fearful of further pain.

For more on this story, check back at Kentucky.com and see Wednesday's
Herald-Leader.

http://www.kentucky.com/