Case Name: UNITED STATES of America v. Hassan THOMAS, Appellant
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2006-03-29
Citations: 173 F. App'x 177
Docket Number: No. 04-2579
Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Hassan THOMAS, Appellant.
Judges: Before RENDELL and STAPLETON, Circuit Judges, and GILES, District Judge.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 173
Pages: 177–178

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES of America v. Hassan THOMAS, Appellant.
No. 04-2579.
United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.
Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) Jan. 25, 2006.
Filed March 29, 2006.
William A. Behe, Office of United States Attorney, Harrisburg, PA, for United States of America.
Joshua D. Lock, Goldberg, Katzman & Shipman, Harrisburg, PA, for Appellant.
Before RENDELL and STAPLETON, Circuit Judges, and GILES, District Judge.
Honorable James T. Giles, Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation.

Opinion:
OPINION OF THE COURT
RENDELL, Circuit Judge.
Hassan Thomas raises a challenge based on United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), to the sentence he received following his guilty plea on charges of distributing an unspecified quantity of crack cocaine. He was sentenced to 176 months after the District Judge found that the proper drug amount for sentencing purposes was between 50 and 150 grams. Because a defendant convicted on a drug offense cannot be sentenced until a drug amount is determined, see U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2D1.1, Thomas's guilty plea alone did not support any sentence. Thus, the amount determined by the District Court was necessarily a fact that enhanced Thomas's sentence beyond the "maximum authorized by the facts established by a plea of guilty." Booker, 125 S.Ct. at 756. After Booker, such facts may be found by the District Judge, but only if the sentencing guidelines are applied in an advisory manner. Id. at 764-68 Accordingly, we will vacate Thomas's sentence and remand for resentencing in accordance with Booker. See United States v. Davis, 407 F.3d 162, 164 (3d Cir.2005) (en banc).