Former Wal-Mart vice chairman and convicted felon Tom Coughlin has a scheduled hearing for oral arguments in the government\'s appeal of his sentence before the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Coughlin was sentenced last summer in federal court to 27 months of home detention after pleading guilty in February 2006 to five counts of wire fraud against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and one count of filing a false tax return. Coughlin faced more than 28 years in prison and fines up to $1.35 million, but the judge gave him home detention after being persuaded by his attorneys that Coughlin\'s health was too fragile for him to spend time in prison. Wayne State University law professor Peter J. Henning says the 8th Circuit has usually been \"very suspicious\" when it comes to nonguideline sentencing -- which is what Coughlin received. But Henning said two cases currently before the U.S. Supreme Court on the question of reasonable sentences may have an impact on the 8th Circuit\'s decision in the Coughlin case. \"Those two cases could throw things. Before they came up, the 8th Circuit probably would have reversed (Coughlin\'s) sentence. I expect the 8th Circuit may hold off their decision until the Supreme Court decides,\" he said.