Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-04-03044/USCOURTS-ca8-04-03044-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Frank Robinson
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 04-3044

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United States of America, *

*

Appellee, *

*

v. * Appeal from the United States

* District Court for the

Frank Robinson, * Western District of Missouri

*

Appellant. * [UNPUBLISHED]

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Submitted: May 13, 2005

Filed: July 15, 2005

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Before MELLOY, McMILLIAN, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

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PER CURIAM.

Frank Robinson appeals the 84-month prison sentence the district court

imposed after he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Robinson

preserved at sentencing the question of the constitutionality of the federal Sentencing

Guidelines after Blakely v. Washington, 124 S. Ct. 2531 (2004). For purposes of our

analysis we assume that this case does not raise a Sixth Amendment issue, and we

thus review for harmless error. See United States v. Booker, 125 S. Ct. 738, 769

(2005). It is clear from the sentencing transcript that the district court made a

conscious decision to sentence Robinson at the bottom of the Guidelines range,

commenting that it felt even this sentence was too harsh. Given this record, we are

Appellate Case: 04-3044 Page: 1 Date Filed: 07/15/2005 Entry ID: 1928500
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left with “grave doubt” that the error of sentencing Robinson under a mandatory

Guidelines scheme was harmless. See United States v. Haidley, 400 F.3d 642, 645

(8th Cir. 2005). Accordingly, we remand for resentencing.

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Appellate Case: 04-3044 Page: 2 Date Filed: 07/15/2005 Entry ID: 1928500