Opinion ID: 165817
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Otherwise Unlawful Waiver

Text: 61 For a waiver to be otherwise unlawful, the error must seriously affect the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings, as that test was employed in United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 732, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993). Hahn, 359 F.3d at 1327 (quotations and alteration omitted). It may be argued that enforcing Defendant's waiver of his appellate rights will cause a miscarriage of justice because enforcing that waiver will result in Defendant's being imprisoned for an additional ten months as a result of bringing this appeal. According to this argument, by reversing the July 9 sentence, considering Defendant's potential arguments to the original sentence waived, and ordering the district court to reimpose the original sentence, we are discouraging defendants from exercising their appellate rights. 62 This argument misses the mark. It is not the enforcement of Defendant's appellate rights waiver that results in our invalidation of his July 9 sentence. Rather, it is the fact that the district court lacked jurisdiction to impose that sentence. Even if we were to consider the merits of Defendant's potential arguments addressing the June 24 sentence, we might still conclude that the district court did not err in imposing that sentence. 14 Therefore, the enforcement of Defendant's waiver of his appellate rights is not determinative of Defendant's receiving a higher sentence, and does not therefore result in a miscarriage of justice. 63 Moreover, we note that our decision to enforce Defendant's waiver of his appellate rights leaves Defendant in the same position in which he would have been if the district court had not improperly resentenced him. Had the district court not improperly resentenced Defendant, Defendant would have been facing a 135-month sentence and would have been able to appeal only issues raised by the Defendant and denied by the District Court regarding the application of the Sentencing Guidelines. Based on our decision, Defendant will face the same 135-month sentence and will be unable to obtain relief for issues included within his appellate rights waiver. Since our decision merely restores the status quo prior to the district court's improper action, our decision to enforce the appellate rights waiver does not result in a miscarriage of justice. Indeed, not enforcing the appellate rights waiver, merely because doing so would result in Defendant receiving a higher sentence than he received as a result of the district court's decision to resentence him on July 9, would be a real miscarriage of justice. After all, that would mean that this Defendant, out of all the defendants who knowingly and voluntarily waived their appellate rights, would obtain relief from that waiver — and this only because of the district court's improper decision to resentence Defendant. Therefore, we hold that enforcing Defendant's waiver of his appellate rights will not result in a miscarriage of justice.