Case Name: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Paul ROBERSON, Defendant-Appellant
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1990-10-23
Citations: 917 F.2d 1158
Docket Number: No. 89-10049
Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Paul ROBERSON, Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: Before ALDISERT , TANG and SKOPIL, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: Federal Reporter 2d Series
Volume: 917
Pages: 1158–1162

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Paul ROBERSON, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 89-10049.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Oct. 23, 1990.
Before ALDISERT , TANG and SKOPIL, Circuit Judges.
Ruggero J. Aldisert, Senior United States Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, sitting by designation.

Opinion:
ORDER
After review of appellant's petition for rehearing, we have decided to reconsider our decision in this case. Accordingly, the petition for rehearing is granted. Upon reconsideration, we affirm the district court's denial of Fed.R.Crim.P. 35 relief, but remand for compliance with the technical requirements of Fed.R.Crim.P. 32. Our prior opinion, United States v. Roberson, 896 F.2d 388 (9th Cir.1990), is amended by deleting parts IV and VI and substituting the following language:
IV.
Roberson argues that the district court violated Rule 32 by failing either to make a finding as to controverted factual matters or to state that it would not consider certain disputed information in the presentence report. The text of former Rule 32 provides in relevant part that:
(D) If the comments of the defendant and the defendant's counsel or testimony or other information introduced by them allege any factual inaccuracy in the presentence investigation report or the summary of the report or part thereof, the court shall, as to each matter controverted, make (i) a finding as to the allegation, or (ii) a determination that no such finding is necessary because the matter controverted will not be taken into account in sentencing. A written record of such findings and determinations shall be appended to and accompany any copy of the presentence investigation report thereafter made available to the Bureau of Prisons or the Parole Commission.
Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(3)(D).
We recently declared that district courts must strictly comply with the provisions of Rule 32. United States v. Fernandez-Angulo, 897 F.2d 1514, 1516 (9th Cir.1990) (en banc). In light of that directive, we agree that Roberson's counsel's comments at sentencing constitute an allegation of a "factual inaccuracy in the presentence investigation report" that required the district court to make "a finding as to the allegation" as directed by Rule 32. Our task then turns to determining whether the district court made the required finding.
The record indicates that after hearing argument by defense counsel and statements by Roberson, the district judge noted that he had "spent much more time attempting to evaluate this case than any sentencing in my recent history." Transcript of Sentencing (September 22, 1988) at p. 21. The judge then declared that Roberson had "obtained in excess of $250,-000 illegally from various insurance companies", and that Roberson "obtained more than $250,000 in settlement funds in more than fifty claims, or approximately fifty claims would be more accurate, in which he participated." Id. at 21-22.
Roberson's sole challenge to the presentence investigation report was the dollar amount that he had illegally obtained. We are satisfied that the district court's statements as to the $250,000 amount were sufficient findings as required by Rule 32. Rule 32 also requires, however, that the court's findings be appended to and accompany the presentence investigation report. The record before us does not indicate whether the district court appended a transcribed copy of its oral findings to the report. Fernandez-Angulo instructs us that such a technical violation of Rule 32 is a ministerial error not requiring resentencing. Fernandez-Angulo, 897 F.2d at 1517. The appropriate remedy is a limited remand to the district court with instructions that the court append a transcript of its proceedings to the presentence investigation report. Id.
The dissent has raised the spectre of a flood of new work for the district courts due to our retroactive application of the Fernandez-Angulo ruling and the abundance of time on prisoners' hands. We are mindful of the already large burden of work the district courts shoulder. However, the fear of a flood may be overblown. The failure of the district court to append its findings to the presentence report is a mere clerical mistake and insufficient to warrant habeas corpus relief. See id.; United States v. Knockum, 881 F.2d 730, 732 (9th Cir.1989). Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 36 provides that clerical mistakes can be corrected at any time. Id. Our decision should have little overall impact on the workload of the district courts.
VI.
We have carefully considered all contentions presented by the appellant. We affirm the district court's denial of appellant's Rule 35 motion. We remand to allow the district court to comply with the technical requirements of Rule 32 by ordering, if it has not already done so, that a copy of a transcript of its oral findings be appended to the presentence report.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REMANDED IN PART.