Opinion ID: 3172724
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Written Statement of Reasons

Text: Vázquez next challenges the district court's failure to provide the written statement of reasons form described in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(c)(2) and 28 U.S.C. § 994(w)(1)(B). Vázquez argues we should use the more favorable abuse-of-discretion standard (rather than plain error) because he would not have become aware of the error until after the sentencing hearing, thereby limiting his avenues of objection to appeal. Resolving this issue, however, is unnecessary because we find that Vázquez's claim fails under our most lenient standard of review for sentencing. Even with preserved sentencing errors, 6 remand is necessary only if the sentence was imposed as a result of the error. United States v. Tavares, 705 F.3d 4, 25 (1st Cir. 2013) (quoting Williams v. United States, 503 U.S. 193, 203 (1992)). If 'the district court would have imposed the same sentence' even 6 We have previously stated that a district court's failure to provide a written statement of reasons is inadequate as a matter of law, Millán-Isaac, 749 F.3d at 69, and the Government does not dispute that an error occurred in this case. -13- without the error, it was harmless. Id. (quoting Williams, 503 U.S. at 202). Given our review of the district court's oral explanation, we believe that the district court would have imposed the same sentence had it filed a written statement of reasons form. The district court's oral explanation provided this Court with an adequate record to evaluate the appropriateness of its departure. This outcome is in line with our previous decision in United States v. Tavares, where we held that a district court satisfied § 3553(c)(2)'s writing requirement by simply incorporating the sentencing hearing transcript by reference. 705 F.3d at 31-32. The district court's failure to include a written statement of reasons form does not belie any misunderstanding of the Sentencing Guidelines or the facts of Vázquez's case that would cause us to believe the district court's error affected Vázquez's sentence. We thus conclude that remand is unnecessary. Additionally, our review of the statutory scheme suggests the written statement of reasons form serves a largely administrative purpose, supporting our view that Vázquez was not harmed by its absence. As described in 28 U.S.C. § 994(w)(1)(B), the content of the written statement of reasons form is determined by the Judicial Conference and Sentencing Commission. The form is just one component of a report district courts must provide to -14- the Sentencing Commission, which the Sentencing Commission aggregates and analyzes to give recommendations to Congress annually. Id. § 994(w)(1), (3). This framework, giving the Sentencing Commission control over the content of the form as part of its reporting duties to Congress, suggests the form primarily facilitates data collection. Bolstering this view is the fact that under § 3553(c)(2), the written statement of reasons form is separate from the judgment.7 This decoupling of the form from the judgment leads us to question whether the form serves a substantive 7 This was not always the case. The Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003 (PROTECT Act), Pub. L. No. 108-21, § 401(c), 117 Stat. 650, 66970, amended § 3533(c)(2) to require district courts to provide an explanation for variant sentences in the written judgment. Failure to do so triggered de novo review of the variant sentence by the courts of appeals. Id. § 401(d)(1)-(2), 117 Stat. at 670 (codified in 18 U.S.C. § 3742(e)). The conference report for the PROTECT Act stated these sentencing reforms were intended to curb the number of below-Guidelines sentences district courts awarded. H.R. Rep. 108-66, at 58-59 (2003) (Conf. Rep.), as reprinted in 2003 U.S.C.C.A.N. 683, 693-94. The PROTECT Act also created the reporting requirements in 28 U.S.C. § 994(w)(1). PROTECT Act, § 401(h), 117 Stat. at 672. The Supreme Court, however, invalidated the code provisions requiring de novo review for variant sentences, including those that lacked written explanations in their judgments. United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 260 (2005). Only after the Supreme Court's decision did Congress amend § 3553(c)(2) to its current language. Federal Judiciary Administrative Improvements Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-174, § 4, 124 Stat. 1216, 1216. This decoupling of the statement of reasons from the judgment may also suggest that the form's purpose is to facilitate data collection rather than appellate review. -15- purpose. Although we have discussed the written statement of reasons form as part of procedural reasonableness, we express some reservations about whether the form is one of the procedural steps a district court must take to explain its sentence. Nonetheless, we decline to decide whether the written statement of reasons is purely administrative given the lack of briefing. The facts of Vázquez's case demonstrate he was not harmed by the statement of reasons form's absence so he is not entitled to remand.