An Eastern District judge failed to explain in open court why she sentenced a sex offender who violated his parole to a prison term greater than the recommended sentencing guidelines, an appellate court ruled in an order for resentencing.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found in U.S. v. Aldeen, 14-cr-2706, that Judge Sandra Townes' sentence of 18 months and three extra years of supervised release for Ahmed Aldeen “seems exceedingly harsh.”

Aldeen violated his parole by speaking to a member of his sex offender treatment group in the subway after one of their sessions.