FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

No. 03-10421 Plaintiff-Appellee,

D.C. No.

v.  CR-02-00099-ACK

LARON KEVIN KORTGAARD,

OPINION Defendant-Appellant. 

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of Hawaii

Alan C. Kay, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted November 3, 2004

Submission Withdrawn January 11, 2005

Resubmitted August 30, 2005

Honolulu, Hawaii

Filed September 21, 2005

Before: Melvin Brunetti, Susan P. Graber, and Jay S. Bybee,

Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Brunetti

13573
COUNSEL

David F. Klein, Esq., Honolulu, Hawaii, for the defendantappellant. 

Michael K. Kawahara, Assistant United States Attorney,

Honolulu, Hawaii, for the plaintiff-appellee. 

OPINION

BRUNETTI, Circuit Judge: 

Laron Kevin Kortgaard appeals his conviction and sentence

for manufacturing marijuana. We have jurisdiction under 28

U.S.C. § 1291. We affirmed Kortgaard’s conviction in an

unpublished Memorandum and deferred submission of the

sentencing issues. United States v. Kortgaard, 119 Fed. Appx.

148 (9th Cir. Jan. 11, 2005). We now hold that upward departures under § 4A1.3 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines involve factual findings beyond the fact of a prior

conviction. Because Kortgaard’s sentence was increased

under § 4A1.3 and exceeds the maximum authorized sentence

based solely on the jury’s verdict under the then-mandatory

Sentencing Guidelines, we vacate the sentence and remand

for resentencing in light of United States v. Booker, 125 S. Ct.

738 (2005). 

Factual and Procedural History

Kortgaard was originally charged with manufacturing marijuana based on his cultivation of 50 or more plants and pos13576 UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD
session with intent to distribute the same amount. A jury

acquitted Kortgaard of possession with intent to distribute but

convicted him of manufacturing marijuana in violation of 21

U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C). Based on the jury verdict

and Kortgaard’s criminal history, the Guidelines required the

district court to sentence Kortgaard to not less than 21 months

but not more than 27 months in prison. 

Rather than sentence Kortgaard within this “base” sentencing range, the district court departed upward to a range of 37

to 46 months and ultimately sentenced Kortgaard to 46

months in prison.1 The upward departure was based on the

judge’s finding that the applicable guideline range inadequately represented the seriousness of Kortgaard’s criminal

history and his likelihood of recidivism. U.S. Sentencing

Guidelines Manual § 4A1.3 (Nov. 2001) (amended 2003)

(hereinafter U.S.S.G.).2 In making this finding, the district

court considered Kortgaard’s two drug convictions and eight

convictions for various other offenses, which occurred in the

United States many years ago, and Kortgaard’s six foreign

drug convictions and seven foreign convictions for property

offenses, which occurred in Canada. 

As the district court noted, U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(e) and (h) preclude consideration of these old domestic convictions and foreign convictions in determining the applicable criminal

history category and the “base” sentencing range. Nevertheless, the district court could and did consider those convictions in making an upward departure. Section 4A1.3 expressly

permits consideration of “prior sentence(s) not used in com1The district court also sentenced Kortgaard to a consecutive 46-month

term for violation of supervised release based on the present conviction.

Kortgaard was on supervised release from a 1994 heroin conviction at the

time he committed the instant offense. 

2All citations to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines in this opinion are to

the version incorporating amendments effective November 1, 2001, unless

otherwise indicated. 

UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD 13577
puting the criminal history category (e.g., sentences for foreign and tribal offenses),” as well as other uncounted factors,

including even criminal conduct not resulting in a conviction.

On appeal, Kortgaard maintains that the district court’s

findings and the resulting upward departure are erroneous on

the merits and, alternatively, violate the Sixth Amendment. At

the time of briefing, the Supreme Court had decided Apprendi

v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), but had only granted certiorari in Blakely v. Washington, 124 S. Ct. 2531 (2004). By

the time of oral argument, however, the parties had the additional benefit of the Court’s decision in Blakely and its grant

of certiorari in Booker. Kortgaard subsequently filed a motion

for supplemental briefing in light of Booker, which the Government opposed. In an unpublished order filed August 30,

2005, we denied the motion. The Court’s guidance in Booker

and the parties’ briefing and oral arguments are sufficiently

illuminating to permit resolution of this appeal without supplemental briefing.

Discussion

In United States v. Bad Marriage, 392 F.3d 1103, 1108 (9th

Cir. 2004), decided only weeks before Booker, we reserved

decision on the issue of “whether, or how, Blakely affects

upward departures under § 4A1.3.” We now confront that

issue in light of Booker and hold that upward departure decisions under § 4A1.3 are factual in nature; therefore, such decisions are not within Apprendi’s exception for the fact of a

prior conviction and are subject to the restrictions of Booker.

A.

[1] The Court clearly stated in Booker: “Any fact (other

than a prior conviction) which is necessary to support a sentence exceeding the maximum authorized by the facts established by a plea of guilty or a jury verdict must be admitted

by the defendant or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable

13578 UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD
doubt.” 125 S. Ct. at 756 (Stevens, J., opinion of the Court).

As we have interpreted Booker, “the Sixth Amendment precludes a judge from enhancing a sentence based on extraverdict findings (other than the fact of a prior conviction) in

a mandatory sentencing regime.” United States v. Ameline,

409 F.3d 1073, 1077 (9th Cir. 2005) (en banc) (citing Booker,

125 S. Ct. at 748-49). 

[2] Kortgaard was sentenced under a mandatory sentencing

regime. Although the Court ultimately declared the Sentencing Guidelines to be “advisory” going forward, Booker, 125

S. Ct. at 757 (Breyer, J., opinion of the Court), for purposes

of the Sixth Amendment analysis under Booker we consider

the state of affairs at the time the defendant was sentenced.

See id. at 751, 769 (with respect to defendant Booker, finding

that a Sixth Amendment violation occurred under the mandatory Guidelines regime, and remanding for resentencing under

an advisory regime); Ameline, 409 F.3d at 1078 (finding constitutional error in an enhancement “under the then-mandatory

guidelines”). At the time Kortgaard was sentenced in 2003,

pre-Blakely and pre-Booker, the Guidelines were “mandatory

and binding on all judges” and therefore had “the force and

effect of laws.” Booker, 125 S. Ct. at 750 (Stevens, J., opinion

of the Court). Moreover, there is no indication in the record

that the district court here treated the Guidelines as anything

other than mandatory and binding. Cf. Ameline, 409 F.3d at

1077 (stating that no Sixth Amendment violation occurs under

Booker where a “particularly prescient sentencing judge, preBooker, had . . . made clear that he was treating the Guidelines as advisory rather than binding”). 

[3] It is inconsequential to our Sixth Amendment analysis

that upward departures under § 4A1.3 are discretionary, insofar as “the court may consider imposing a sentence departing

from the otherwise applicable guideline range” if certain prerequisite findings are made. U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3 (emphasis

added). As noted above, at the time Kortgaard was sentenced,

sentencing in accordance with the Guidelines was mandatory

UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD 13579
and the district court here treated the Guidelines accordingly.

In such cases, “the judge is bound to impose a sentence within

the Guidelines range” supported by the jury’s verdict, the

upper limit of which represents the “maximum authorized”

sentence. Booker, 125 S. Ct. at 750, 756 (Stevens, J., opinion

of the Court). Although the judge has discretion to consider

a departure under § 4A1.3, the judge does not have unfettered

discretion to impose a departure; additional factual findings

are prerequisite. See U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3. In the absence of such

findings, the applicable Guideline range remains mandatory

and the judge has no authority to impose, nor is the defendant

eligible to receive, a greater sentence. “The judge acquires

that authority only upon finding some additional fact.”

Blakely, 124 S. Ct. at 2538, quoted in Booker, 125 S. Ct. at

751 (Stevens, J., opinion of the Court). “Whether the judicially determined facts require a sentence enhancement or

merely allow it, the verdict alone does not authorize the sentence.” Blakely, 124 S. Ct. at 2538 n.8. In other words, additional factual findings under § 4A1.3 are “necessary to

support a sentence exceeding the maximum authorized by the

facts established by a plea of guilty or a jury verdict.” Booker,

125 S. Ct. at 756 (Stevens, J., opinion of the Court). Therefore, to satisfy the Sixth Amendment, the additional facts

(other than the fact of a prior conviction) “must be admitted

by the defendant or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable

doubt.” Id.

[4] Under the mandatory Guidelines regime in effect at the

time Kortgaard was sentenced, the “maximum authorized”

sentence, or “the Guideline range supported by the jury verdict alone,” was 21 to 27 months in prison. Booker, 125 S. Ct.

at 751, 756 (Stevens, J., opinion of the Court); see, e.g., id.

at 751 (calculating Booker’s maximum authorized sentence as

210 to 262 months under the Guidelines). Kortgaard’s actual

sentence, however, was 46 months, or 19 months longer than

the maximum Guidelines term supported by the jury verdict

alone. Consequently, if Kortgaard’s sentence was based on

facts, other than the fact of a prior conviction, not admitted by

13580 UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD
Kortgaard or found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, then

the sentence violates his Sixth Amendment right to a jury

trial. See id. at 756.

B.

Kortgaard contends that the district court’s decision to

depart upward under § 4A1.3 without submitting the issue to

a jury violates the Sixth Amendment because § 4A1.3

requires extra-verdict factual findings beyond the facts of

Kortgaard’s prior convictions and sentences. The Government

essentially contends that Kortgaard’s sentence is within

Apprendi’s exception for the fact of a prior conviction

because the sentencing judge’s findings under § 4A1.3 followed as a matter of law from the fact of Kortgaard’s prior

convictions. 

1.

The mere fact that the sentencing judge considered prior

convictions in departing upward does not bring this case

within the exception for “the fact of a prior conviction” that

the Court carved out in Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 489-90 (deriving the exception from Almendarez-Torres v. United States,

523 U.S. 224 (1998)). The fact of Kortgaard’s prior convictions was not the ultimate finding upon which the court based

the upward departure. 

The 2001 version of § 4A1.3 provides in pertinent part:

If reliable information indicates that the criminal history category does not adequately reflect the seriousness of the defendant’s past criminal conduct or the

likelihood that the defendant will commit other

crimes, the court may consider imposing a sentence

departing from the otherwise applicable guideline

range. Such information may include, but is not limited to, information concerning: 

UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD 13581
(a) prior sentence(s) not used in computing the

criminal history category (e.g., sentences for foreign

and tribal offenses); 

(b) prior sentence(s) of substantially more than one

year imposed as a result of independent crimes committed on different occasions; 

(c) prior similar misconduct established by a civil

adjudication or by a failure to comply with an

administrative order; 

(d) whether the defendant was pending trial or sentencing on another charge at the time of the instant

offense; 

(e) prior similar adult criminal conduct not resulting

in a criminal conviction. 

A departure under this provision is warranted when

the criminal history category significantly underrepresents the seriousness of the defendant’s criminal history or the likelihood that the defendant will

commit further crimes. 

U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3.3

Uncounted prior offenses are clearly part of the inquiry

under § 4A1.3, but that is only where the inquiry begins, not

where it ends. The fact of prior offenses is merely one variable that a sentencing judge may consider in a larger calculus.

The ultimate finding that must be made before departing

3The 2003 amendments to § 4A1.3 reorganized the upward and downward departure provisions and renumbered all subsections; however, the

operative text of the core provisions—the “seriousness” and “likelihood”

determination and the permissible factors—is practically identical. Compare U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3 (Nov. 2001), with U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3 (Nov. 2004).

13582 UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD
upward under § 4A1.3 is that “the criminal history category

significantly under-represents the seriousness of the defendant’s criminal history or the likelihood that the defendant

will commit further crimes.” Id.; see United States v. Connelly, 156 F.3d 978, 983 (9th Cir. 1998); United States v.

Myers, 41 F.3d 531, 534 (9th Cir. 1994). Accordingly, after

considering Kortgaard’s uncounted convictions, the district

court stated its finding that criminal history category III “significantly under-represents the seriousness of [Kortgaard’s]

criminality and the risk of recidivism posed by him.” 

2.

[5] We also find that the ultimate § 4A1.3 determinations

of the “seriousness” of a defendant’s past misconduct and a

defendant’s “likelihood” of recidivism are factual matters.

Contending instead that these determinations are issues of law

following from the fact of a prior conviction, the Government

analogizes § 4A1.3 determinations to decisions classifying an

offense as a “violent felony.” See, e.g., United States v. Smith,

390 F.3d 661, 666 (9th Cir. 2004), amended by 405 F.3d 726

(9th Cir. 2005) (rejecting an Apprendi challenge to a sentencing enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act of

1984 (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)); see also United States v.

Von Brown, 417 F.3d 1077, 1079-80 (9th Cir. 2005) (per

curiam) (following Smith and holding that the determination

that a prior conviction is a “crime of violence” within

U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2 is a legal question outside the purview of

Apprendi, Blakely, and Booker). The analogy is not fitting. 

Terms like “violent felony” and “crime of violence” are

defined by statute and according to certain enumerated

elements. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B); U.S.S.G.

§ 4B1.2(a). Such determinations are essentially in-or-out, categorical classifications of individual offenses that follow necessarily from the elements of the conviction and jury-found or

admitted facts; inquiry into the underlying facts of the conviction is otherwise prohibited. See Von Brown, 417 F.3d at

UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD 13583
1079-80 & n.4; Smith, 390 F.3d at 663-64 (discussing the categorical and modified categorical approaches). 

[6] By contrast, the Guidelines provide no statutory definition for “seriousness” and “likelihood,” let alone a definition

relying on the elements of the offense. Cf. U.S.S.G.

§ 4B1.2(a) (defining “crime of violence”). Section 4A1.3 is a

policy statement. It authorizes the sentencing judge to exercise discretion, stating that the court “may consider” a departure, and it provides only examples of criminal histories that

a sentencing judge “might” or “may” find sufficient depending on the facts of a particular case. U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3; see

also id. § 4A1.3, cmt. background (“This policy statement

recognizes that the criminal history score is unlikely to take

into account all the variations in the seriousness of criminal

history that may occur. . . . This policy statement authorizes

the consideration of a departure . . . and provides guidance for

the consideration of such departures.”). 

In applying the “seriousness” factor, we have observed that

“it is the quality of the defendant’s criminal history not the

quantity which is decisive.” United States v. Segura-Del Real,

83 F.3d 275, 277 (9th Cir. 1996). “An upward departure under

§ 4A1.3 may not be based on mechanical calculations. It must

be justified, rather, by a qualitative difference between the

defendant’s overall record and that of other defendants in the

same criminal history category.” United States v. CarrilloAlvarez, 3 F.3d 316, 322 (9th Cir. 1993). For example, in Bad

Marriage, our analysis consisted of a comparative analysis

and relativistic judgments about the seriousness of the defendant’s various prior offenses and his record as a whole. 392

F.3d at 1111-12. We surmised that “Bad Marriage’s record

reveals an individual ravaged by substance abuse, not a

depraved criminal” and concluded that “a departure was not

justified under the facts of this case.” Id. at 1112-13. 

In assessing a defendant’s “likelihood” of future recidivism, we have analyzed “1) the quantity (or ‘repetitiveness’)

13584 UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD
of uncounted criminal conduct, 2) the similarity of uncounted

criminal conduct to the offense conduct, and 3) the degree to

which the defendant has been deterred by prior sentences.”

Connelly, 156 F.3d at 985. Although some of these factors

look to objective facts (e.g., number of offenses), this test

clearly calls for comparative and qualitative assessments of a

defendant’s overall criminal record and pattern of criminality,

often including some judgments regarding the defendant’s

motives, morality, or state of mind. See, e.g., Bad Marriage,

392 F.3d at 1113 (“By far, the bulk of Bad Marriage’s criminal history consists of minor offenses, involving no threat to

human beings, committed while the defendant was intoxicated.”); Connelly, 156 F.3d at 985 (finding that the defendant’s

convictions for unauthorized use of a credit card and credit

card fraud were “strikingly similar” and “involve stealing

from people who trusted him”); Segura-Del Real, 83 F.3d at

278 (finding that the defendant’s “criminal history demonstrated a total lack of recognition of the gravity of such

offenses and his propensity to continue to commit them”).

Moreover, the ultimate assessment of “the likelihood that the

defendant will commit other crimes” is quite literally an estimate of the probability of a person’s future actions—

basically, a prediction of the future. The fact that such predictions may be accurate, reliable, or based on objective information simply does not change the nature of the inquiry. 

[7] We find that these inquiries are fundamentally factual

in nature. On the whole, applying § 4A1.3 requires an exercise of discretion, qualitative and relativistic assessments of

the nature of a defendant’s overall record and pattern of criminality, and estimations of a defendant’s propensity towards

future recidivism. These determinations do not follow necessarily from the fact of any prior conviction or sentence but

instead call for the judgment of a factfinder. 

Our conclusion is consistent with our prior characterization

and treatment of the “serious[ness]” and “likelihood” findings

under § 4A1.3 as “factual findings.” Myers, 41 F.3d at 534. In

UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD 13585
Myers, we treated the district court’s authority to consider a

particular class of conduct (post-offense misconduct) as an

issue of law; however, we treated the district court’s findings

that the misconduct was sufficiently serious and indicated a

strong likelihood of future recidivism as “factual findings”

and reviewed for clear error. Id. at 533-34.4

Moreover, the Supreme Court has characterized upward

departure determinations in general as “factual matters.”

Koon, 518 U.S. at 100. In rejecting the Government’s characterization of such determinations as questions of law, the

Court stated:

The Government seeks to avoid the factual nature of

the departure inquiry by describing it at a higher

level of generality linked closely to questions of law.

The relevant question, however, is not, as the Government says, “whether a particular factor is within

the ‘heartland’ ” as a general proposition, but

whether the particular factor is within the heartland

given all the facts of the case. . . . What the district

court must determine is whether the misconduct that

4Our prior classifications of issues as ones of fact or law are instructive

even though the standards of review we once employed have since

changed. Myers applied the three-part test of United States v. LiraBarraza, 941 F.2d 745, 746-47 (9th Cir. 1991) (en banc), which prescribed

a different standard of review (de novo, clear error, and reasonableness)

for each of the three inquiries (legal authority to depart, factual findings

justifying departure, and degree of departure, respectively). As we recognized in United States v. Beasley, 90 F.3d 400, 402-03 (9th Cir. 1996),

Lira-Barraza was effectively overruled by Koon v. United States, 518 U.S.

81, 91 (1996), wherein the Court held that upward departures were to be

reviewed for abuse of discretion only. Congress then amended 18 U.S.C.

§ 3742(e) to provide for de novo review of certain sentencing decisions.

PROTECT Act, Pub. L. No. 108-21, § 401, 117 Stat. 650, 670 (2003);

United States v. Daychild, 357 F.3d 1082, 1104-06 (9th Cir. 2004).

Finally, in Booker, the Court excised § 3742(e) in fashioning a remedy to

the unconstitutionality of the Sentencing Guidelines. Booker, 125 U.S. at

764 (Breyer, J., opinion of the Court). 

13586 UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD
occurred in the particular instance suffices to make

the case atypical. The answer is apt to vary depending on, for instance, the severity of the misconduct,

its timing, and the disruption it causes. These considerations are factual matters. 

Id. at 99-100 (citation omitted). This factual “heartland” analysis is the basis for upward departures generally, including

those under § 4A1.3. See Connelly, 156 F.3d at 983 (describing both the generally applicable upward departure analysis

and the § 4A1.3 inquiry).

3.

[8] We are also guided by our decision in United States v.

Tighe, wherein we stated that the prior conviction exception

“should remain a ‘narrow exception’ to Apprendi.” 266 F.3d

1187, 1194 (9th Cir. 2001) (quoting Apprendi, 530 U.S. at

490). As we noted in Tighe, the Apprendi Court derived the

prior conviction exception from Almendarez-Torres; however,

the Court also questioned the continuing validity of

Almendarez-Torres regarding the consideration of recidivism

in sentencing, construed it as “represent[ing] at best an exceptional departure from the historic practice that we have

described,” and therefore decided “to treat the case as a narrow exception to the general rule.” Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 487,

489-90. We treated it accordingly in Tighe and declined “to

extend Apprendi’s ‘prior conviction’ exception to include

prior nonjury juvenile adjudications on the basis of

Almendarez-Torres’ logic.” Tighe, 266 F.3d at 1194. 

We are faced here with another request to extend or broadly

construe Apprendi’s exception in order to include within it

issues that have not been submitted to a jury. We once again

decline to do so and continue to treat the exception as “a narrow exception to the general rule.” Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 489-

90; cf. Smith, 390 F.3d at 666 (holding that for purposes of

ACCA enhancements the modified categorical approach is

UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD 13587
within the Apprendi exception so long as there is no inquiry

into the underlying facts of the conviction). 

[9] Apprendi stated the exception as covering “the fact of

a prior conviction,” not facts that are derived or inferred

therefrom. 530 U.S. at 490 (emphasis added); see also id. at

488 (“any ‘fact’ of prior conviction”). While the Court

repeated the “prior conviction” exception in both Blakely and

Booker, in neither case did the Court have the occasion to

redefine or expand its scope. Booker, 125 S. Ct. at 746-47,

756 (“reaffirm[ing]” Apprendi, and treating findings regarding drug quantity, obstruction of justice, and level of participation as factual); Blakely, 124 S. Ct. at 2536, 2537 (quoting

Apprendi, and treating a finding of “deliberate cruelty” as factual). Even if the prior conviction exception legitimately

includes facts that follow necessarily or as a matter of law

from the fact of a prior conviction, we have already concluded

that the findings required to support an upward departure

under § 4A1.3 are not of that nature because they require the

judgment of a factfinder. 

C.

Because our holding today applies to upward departures

under § 4A1.3 generally, we need not reach Kortgaard’s argument under Tighe that the sentencing judge’s consideration of

Kortgaard’s Canadian convictions violates the Sixth Amendment. We express no opinion as to whether Canadian convictions or other foreign convictions, like nonjury juvenile

adjudications, lack the requisite due process protections to

qualify for Apprendi’s exception for the fact of a prior conviction. Cf. Tighe, 266 F.3d at 1194. 

We also express no opinion with respect to whether the district court’s decision to depart upward pursuant to § 4A1.3

constitutes “plain error” within the meaning of United States

v. Ameline, 409 F.3d 1073 (9th Cir. 2005) (en banc). Even if

Kortgaard failed to preserve the error below, the government

13588 UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD
nonetheless elected to address the merits of Kortgaard’s challenge to the upward departure under § 4A1.3 without raising

the issue of waiver. In these circumstances, we conclude that

the government has “ ‘waived’ any waiver argument it may

have had.” United States v. Doe, 53 F.3d 1081, 1082-83 (9th

Cir. 1995) (holding that the government had waived its waiver

argument by failing to assert it and instead addressing the

merits of the defendant’s claim); see also United States v.

Booker, 375 F.3d 508, 515 (7th Cir. 2004) (not considering

the application of the plain error doctrine because the Government did not argue that Booker forfeited his Sixth Amendment challenge), aff’d, 125 S. Ct. at 769 (also not applying the

plain error doctrine). Accordingly, we treat Kortgaard’s claim

of Sixth Amendment error as preserved.

Conclusion

[10] For the foregoing reasons, we hold that upward departures under § 4A1.3 of the Sentencing Guidelines involve factual findings beyond the fact of a prior conviction and are not

within Apprendi’s exception for the fact of a prior conviction.

Kortgaard was sentenced under a mandatory sentencing

regime, the district judge departed upward under § 4A1.3

based on judicially determined facts, and the actual sentence

exceeds the maximum authorized at the time based solely on

the jury’s verdict. Kortgaard’s sentence therefore violates the

Sixth Amendment, Booker, 125 S. Ct. at 756 (Stevens, J.,

opinion of the Court), and “is invalid,” Blakely, 124 S. Ct. at

2538. We therefore vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing under the now-advisory Guidelines regime. See

Booker, 125 S. Ct. at 769 (Breyer, J., opinion of the Court).

SENTENCE VACATED AND REMANDED.

UNITED STATES v. KORTGAARD 13589