Opinion ID: 165347
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Substantially increased sentence

Text: Here, the non-constitutional Booker error unquestionably resulted in Mr. Hernandez-Noriega receiving a substantially-increased sentence. This factor is -6- “ordinarily not present for consideration when a defendant raises a non-constitutional Booker error.” United States v. Thomas, 410 F.3d 1235, 1249 n.6 (10th Cir. 2005). In this case, however, this factor is pertinent because we are able to compare the sentence Mr. Hernandez-Noriega received under the mandatory Guidelines, and the sentencing guideline range he would have been eligible for had the 1988 conviction not resulted in a mandatory sixteen-level increase in the offense level. Applying the pre-Booker Guidelines scheme, the district court sentenced him to ninety-two months’ incarceration. Yet, without the mandatory imposition of the sixteen-level enhancement for the 1988 methamphetamine conviction, the sentencing range would have been much less: 15-21 months. 2. Showing of a significantly lower sentence on remand Moreover, the district court expressed its dissatisfaction with the Guidelines’ treatment of the 1988 methamphetamine conviction and with the Guideline range, and it sentenced Mr. Hernandez-Noriega at the very bottom of that range. Cf. Trujillo-Terrazas, 405 F.3d at 820-21 (noting sentencing judge’s expressed dissatisfaction with the application of the Guidelines as a relevant factor in the plain error analysis); cf. Thomas, 410 F.3d at 1249 (refusing to apply to fourth prong because “Thomas’s sentence was not increased substantially” and because the district court was “not convinced the judge would impose a lighter -7- sentence on remand”). At the first sentencing hearing, the district court observed that the mandatory sentence “just doesn’t appeal to my sense of fairness” to “go[] back to 1988 to pick up a conviction that we know very little about on a sentence that the defendant was originally given probation for 60 months and then later revoked for two years.” Second. Supp. Rec. vol. II, at 9. Thus, the record demonstrates that his sentence “‘would likely change to a significant degree if [the case] were returned to the district court for discretionary resentencing.’” See United States v. Lawrence, 405 F.3d 888, 907 (10th Cir. 2005) (quoting Gonzalez-Huerta, 403 F.3d at 743-44 (Ebel, J., concurring)). 3. Substantial lack of evidence to support the sentence Next, as previously discussed, the district court knew “very little about the” 1988 conviction for which Mr. Hernandez-Noriega initially received probation. The “aggravated felony” conviction that led to the sixteen-point increase in the offense level was fourteen years old. Little was known about that offense, but the fact that Mr. Hernandez-Noriega was initially given a sentence of probation suggests that the offense was relatively minor compared to the usual drug trafficking crimes addressed by these provisions of Guidelines. 4. Sentencing factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) Moreover, the sentencing factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)—which have a “new vitality” after Booker, see Trujillo-Terrazas 405 F.3d at -8- 819—indicate that a sentence below the Guideline range may be warranted. At the time of his arrest, Mr. Hernandez-Noriega had been gainfully employed at the same job for three years. The letters furnished to the court indicated Mr. Hernandez-Noriega’s work ethic and generosity to others. Although the PSR assigned him a criminal history score of V, his most recent drug offense, possession of methamphetamine, was committed in 1991. The district court considered the age of some of Mr. Hernandez-Noriega’s criminal history, and noted that this weighed in favor of a sentence at the low end of the Guideline range. United States v. Taylor, 413 F.3d 1146, 1156 (10th Cir. 2005) (noting that § 3553 “allow[s] a court to consider the personal mitigating characteristics of the defendant”); Rec. Supp. vol. II, at 5-6. Thus, under the facts of this particular case, Mr. Hernandez-Noriega has satisfied the fourth prong of the plain error inquiry.