Opinion ID: 6065
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: How the Guidelines Treat Forfeiture

Text: The Sentencing Guidelines provide that [f]orfeiture is to be imposed upon a convicted defendant as provided by statute. United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual §5E1.4 (Nov. 1, 1992). While the commentary to this guideline does not specifically mention forfeiture under §1467, the commentary recognizes that [f]orfeiture provisions exist in various statutes, id. §5E1.4 commentary at 308, and provides a few examples of such statutory forfeiture provisions. See id. at 308 -09. By its inclusiveness, §5E1.4 of the guidelines contemplates that forfeiture be imposed upon defendants as provided for under §1467. Furthermore, the Sentencing Guidelines treat forfeiture as part of the sentence to be imposed upon a defendant. The introductory commentary to Chapter Five of the Sentencing Guidelines, appropriately entitled Determining the Sentence, begins by noting that the guidelines permit the court to impose either imprisonment or some other sanction or combination of sanctions.15 Id. Critically, the commentary continues, [a] sentence is within the guidelines if it complies with each applicable section of this chapter. Id. As a sentence within the guidelines has to comply with every applicable section of Chapter 15 As the Supreme Court has recently held, commentary in the Guidelines Manual interpreting or explaining a guideline is authoritative unless it violates the Constitution or a federal statute, or is inconsistent with, or a plainly erroneous reading of, that guideline. Stinson v. United States, ____ U.S. ____, 113 S. Ct. 1913, 1915 (1993). 14 Five, it necessarily includes §5E1.4 on forfeiture.16 In short, a §1467 forfeiture order falls within the guideline's treatment of sentences.