Opinion ID: 2977371
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Watts

Text: In United States v. Booker, the Court explained that “in Watts . . . we held that the double jeopardy clause permitted a court to consider acquitted conduct in sentencing a defendant under the Guidelines.” 543 U.S. 220, 240 (2005). The Court then held that Watts is irrelevant to the issue of the use of acquitted conduct generally or under the Sixth Amendment because in Watts there was no “contention that the sentence enhancement had exceeded the sentence authorized by the jury verdict in violation of the Sixth Amendment. The issue . . . simply was not presented.” Id. The Court then went on to explain: Watts, in particular, presented a very narrow question regarding the interaction of the Guidelines with the double jeopardy clause, and did not even have the benefit of full briefing or oral argument. It is unsurprising that we failed to consider fully the issues presented to us in these cases. Id. The majority’s simple and single-minded reliance on Watts as authority for enhancements based on acquitted conduct is obviously a mistake. It is a mistake that other federal circuit courts have also made,2 but it is a mistake nonetheless. Therefore, we should treat this as an open question and consider whether the use of acquitted conduct to increase criminal sentences is permitted. 2 Numerous courts of appeals assume that Watts controls the outcome of both the Fifth and Sixth Amendment challenges to the use of acquitted conduct, even after Booker explicitly limited Watts’s reach to the Fifth Amendment double jeopardy question presented in that case and made it clear that Watts does not decide any issue other than double jeopardy. See, e.g., United States v. Magallanez, 408 F.3d 672, 684-85 (10th Cir. 2005); United States v. Vaughn, 430 F.3d 518, 526 (2d Cir. 2005); United States v. Price, 418 F.3d 771, 787-88 (7th Cir. 2005); United States v. Ashworth, 139 Fed. Appx. 525, 527 (4th Cir. 2005) (per curiam); United States v. Hayward, 117 Fed. Appx. 214, 215 (3d Cir. 2006); United States v. Farias, 469 F.3d 393, 399 (5th Cir. 2006); United States v. Gobbi, 471 F.3d 302, 314 (1st Cir. 2006). Other courts have recognized that Watts is not controlling on the Sixth Amendment question, only to be influenced by the other courts, supra, who erroneously presume the contrary. See, e.g., United States v. Dorcely, 454 F.3d 366, 371 (D.C. Cir. 2006); United States v. Mercado, 474 F.3d 654, 657 (9th Cir. 2007). Indeed, only one court has recognized that Watts has absolutely no bearing on a Sixth Amendment challenge and has gone on to address the issue absent any reliance on that case. See United States v. Duncan, 400 F.3d 1297, at 1304-05 & n.7 (11th Cir. 2005). No. 05-6596 United States v. White Page 19