Opinion ID: 715849
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lack of Allocution at Resentencing Under a Limited Mandate

Text: 20 We review questions involving the legality of a criminal sentence de novo. United States v. Taylor, 11 F.3d 149, 151 (11th Cir.1994) (per curiam). The purpose underlying the right of allocution is to permit a convicted defendant an opportunity to plead personally to the court for leniency in his sentence by stating mitigating factors and to have that plea considered by the court in determining the appropriate sentence. Green v. United States, 365 U.S. 301, 304-05, 81 S.Ct. 653, 655, 5 L.Ed.2d 670 (1961); see Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(a)(1)(C). Allocution serves an important function at initial sentencing, where the district court exercises discretion in determining an appropriate sentence. This court has remanded for resentencing because the convicted defendant was not allowed to allocute at the original sentencing in compliance with Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(a)(1)(C). United States v. Phillips, 936 F.2d 1252, 1256 (11th Cir.1991); see United States v. Rogers, 848 F.2d 166, 169 (11th Cir.1988) (per curiam) (holding that a resentencing hearing may be limited to allocution only, when allocution did not occur at initial sentencing). 21 Similarly, a case remanded for resentencing where the sentence not only has been vacated, but also it has been opened for redetermination in its entirety is subject to the same discretionary concerns as initial sentencing. For an initial sentencing, or even a resentencing where an entire sentencing package has been vacated on appeal, a hearing at which the defendant is present with counsel will generally be necessary to [ensure allocution]. United States v. Jackson, 923 F.2d 1494, 1497 (11th Cir.1991) (emphasis added); see United States v. Taylor, 11 F.3d at 151 (holding that, where the convicted defendant was not permitted to allocute at his original sentencing or at his resentencing after his entire prior sentence was set aside, the defendant must be resentenced and allowed to allocute). 5 In the context of a remedial sentence, however, the convicted defendant had the opportunity to rebut the presentence report and to allocute at the original sentencing hearing, where the sentencing judge made credibility determinations and fashioned an appropriate sentence for the defendant's conduct and level of culpability. Jackson, 923 F.2d at 1497. Thus, reconsideration or correction of a portion of the sentence can be remedied on remand, provided the modification does not make the sentence more onerous, but the whole [sentencing] process need not start anew. 6 Id. 22 Although Tamayo's original sentence was vacated, clearly the entire sentencing package was not to be revisited on remand because the Tamayo I panel limited his resentencing to the sole issue of whether the unadjudicated nolo contendere disposition qualified as a diversionary disposition under Rockman for inclusion in his criminal history. 7 The panel vacated the sentence only because the sentence would have had to have been recalculated if the district court determined that the state court disposition had been counted erroneously in Tamayo's criminal history. Significantly, the Tamayo I panel specifically held that there was no merit in Tamayo's objections to his sentence other than the 'prior sentence' issue. Tamayo I at 11 n. 3. Thus, the panel foreclosed the district court's addressing any sentencing issues that previously had been raised concerning the original sentence. 23 The law of the case doctrine, self-imposed by the courts, operates to create efficiency, finality and obedience within the judicial system. Litman v. Massachusetts Mut. Life Ins. Co., 825 F.2d 1506, 1511 (11th Cir.1987) (en banc), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1006, 108 S.Ct. 700, 98 L.Ed.2d 652 (1988). An appellate decision binds all subsequent proceedings in the same case not only as to explicit rulings, but also as to issues decided necessarily by implication on the prior appeal. Luckey v. Miller, 929 F.2d 618, 621 (11th Cir.1991); Heathcoat v. Potts, 905 F.2d 367, 370 (11th Cir.1990). Accordingly, [a] district court when acting under an appellate court's mandate, 'cannot vary it, or examine it for any other purpose than execution; or give any other or further relief; or review it, even for apparent error, upon a matter decided on appeal; or intermeddle with it, further than to settle so much as has been remanded.'  Litman, 825 F.2d at 1510-11 (quoting In re Sanford Fork & Tool Co., 160 U.S. 247, 255, 16 S.Ct. 291, 293, 40 L.Ed. 414 (1895)). The mandate rule is simply an application of the law of the case doctrine to a specific set of facts. Id. at 1511; Piambino v. Bailey, 757 F.2d 1112, 1120 (11th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1169, 106 S.Ct. 2889, 90 L.Ed.2d 976 (1986). Our settled circuit law obligates a district court to follow our mandates, Litman, 825 F.2d at 1511, and not to assert jurisdiction over matters outside the scope of a limited mandate, which constitutes abuse of discretion, Pelletier v. Zweifel, 987 F.2d 716, 718 (11th Cir.) (per curiam), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 311, 126 L.Ed.2d 258 (1993). See Wheeler v. City of Pleasant Grove, 746 F.2d 1437, 1440 n. 2 (11th Cir.1984) (per curiam) (On remand a district court is not free to deviate from the appellate court's mandate.). 24 Additionally, we have held that an appellate vacation of judgment for consideration in light of a particular decision is much more limited in nature than a general vacation by an appellate court, and its effect is not to nullify all prior proceedings. United States v. M.C.C. of Florida, Inc., 967 F.2d 1559, 1562 (11th Cir.1992). Because it is in the interest of judicial economy for the [district] court not to redo that which had been done correctly at the first [sentencing] hearing, we have held that there is nothing improper in the district court's limiting the scope of a resentencing proceeding. Rogers, 848 F.2d at 169. Such restriction of matters to be considered on remand for resentencing is in compliance with our law of the case doctrine and the mandate rule. Thus, the district court in this case appropriately limited its resentencing consideration to the remanded issue of whether Rockman affected the use of Tamayo's unadjudicated state nolo contendere disposition in his criminal history calculation and declined readdressing other objections and issues relating to Tamayo's original sentencing, such as acceptance of responsibility and deportation. See Pelletier, 987 F.2d at 718 (reversing and remanding because the district court abused its discretion by addressing issues on resentencing outside the limited mandate). 25 We have recognized narrow exceptions to the law of the case doctrine, where there is new evidence, an intervening change in controlling law dictating a different result, or the appellate decision, if implemented, would cause manifest injustice because it is clearly erroneous. Litman, 825 F.2d at 1510. None of these exceptions, however, applies to the updated information proffered by Tamayo as potential reasons to reduce his original sentence. In his resentencing memorandum and objections to both the original presentence report and the presentence report requested by the district court pursuant to its mandate for resentencing, Tamayo raises issues relating to his status, his advancing age, his years in prison, and the overcrowding of the prison system, for the purpose of achieving a reduction in his imprisonment sentence. Although the district court did not allow Tamayo to address these issues at the resentencing hearing, it was aware of them because they were stated in his resentencing memorandum. Furthermore, aging, accruing incarceration time, and prison overcrowding are the inevitable consequence and implicit result of any significant prison term and readily anticipated by a sentencing judge. Because these facts asserted by Tamayo would have been understood by the district judge at the original sentencing, they do not constitute new evidence. 26 Importantly, the issue for determination on remand, whether the subject state court disposition was includable in Tamayo's criminal history, was a legal, not a factual, question, since there was no dispute that the nolo contendere plea occurred or that a sentence was imposed. After determining that the questioned state court disposition appropriately was counted in Tamayo's criminal history, the district judge unequivocally reaffirmed and reinstituted the original sentence, barring no case authority being provided within ten days that the state nolo contendere disposition was invalid and unavailable to be included in Tamayo's criminal history because it was unsigned by the state judge. Thus, Tamayo's reimposed sentence was not more onerous because it was the same. 27 Tamayo's counsel stated at the resentencing in response to the district judge's request for objections that there were no objections to Tamayo's sentence that had not been made and no additional objections have been made known to this court. Accordingly, we must presume that, other than objections to the resolution of the mandated issue, the issues relating to Tamayo's original sentencing and presentence report as well as his updated status comprise all of his objections to his resentencing. Because these issues are either precluded by the law of the case as relating to the original sentencing or do not qualify as exceptions to this doctrine, they would have been unavailable for the district court's consideration, even if Tamayo had allocuted as to these issues. 28 Moreover, Tamayo did not request to allocute at his resentencing, and he did not object to not being given the opportunity to do so. 8 Where the district court has offered the opportunity to object and a party is silent or fails to state the grounds for objection, objections to the sentence will be waived for purposes of appeal, and this court will not entertain an appeal based upon such objections unless refusal to do so would result in manifest injustice. United States v. Jones, 899 F.2d 1097, 1103 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 906, 111 S.Ct. 275, 112 L.Ed.2d 230 (1990), overruled on other grounds, United States v. Morrill, 984 F.2d 1136, 1137 (11th Cir.1993) (en banc); see also Boardman v. Estelle, 957 F.2d 1523, 1529-30 (9th Cir.) (holding in a habeas corpus appeal that the sentencing judge's denying a convicted defendant's affirmative request to allocute implicates constitutional due process, although amenable to harmless error analysis), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 904, 113 S.Ct. 297, 121 L.Ed.2d 221 (1992). The Supreme Court has held that a trial court's failure to allow a defendant to allocute at sentencing is neither a constitutional error nor is it a fundamental defect which inherently results in a complete miscarriage of justice, nor an omission inconsistent with the rudimentary demands of fair procedure. Hill v. United States, 368 U.S. 424, 428, 82 S.Ct. 468, 471, 7 L.Ed.2d 417 (1962). 29 As we have explained, Tamayo was given the opportunity to allocute at his original sentencing, and the district court was apprised of the substance of any purported resentencing allocution through his resentencing memorandum. Under the limited mandate for resentencing, manifest injustice did not occur in this case, although Tamayo was not given the opportunity to allocute at his resentencing. Indeed, Tamayo failed to avail himself of the district court's invitation at resentencing to file supplemental authority or objections within ten days, during which time he could have discussed his case fully with his recently appointed appellate counsel, and notified the district court of his objection to not having the opportunity to allocute at resentencing. Yet, Tamayo's counsel filed nothing on his behalf and the allocution issue was not raised until this appeal. On the facts of this case, the limited mandate, the prior representation of the substance of any intended allocution, and Tamayo's failure to request allocution or object to not being given this opportunity at the resentencing proceeding or within the time permitted by the district court thereafter, we hold that the district court did not commit reversible error in not giving Tamayo the opportunity to allocute at his resentencing. 30 B. Includability of the Unadjudicated and Unsigned State Nolo Contendere Disposition in the Criminal History 31 Having decided that the district court appropriately limited the resentencing proceeding to the single issue of whether the unadjudicated state, nolo contendere disposition was included properly in Tamayo's Sentencing Guidelines criminal history under Rockman, we now determine whether the district court correctly resolved that issue. [W]hether a particular guideline applies to a given set of facts is a question of law ... subject to de novo review. United States v. Shriver, 967 F.2d 572, 574 (11th Cir.1992). In Rockman, our court held that a plea of nolo contendere to a prior offense in state court, where the court withheld adjudication of guilt, is a diversionary disposition and properly calculated in a convicted defendant's criminal history under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1(c). A diversionary disposition resulting from a finding or admission of guilt, or a plea of nolo contendere, in a judicial proceeding is counted as a sentence under § 4A1.1(c) even if a conviction is not formally entered.... U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(f). In concluding that such a diversionary disposition counts in a convicted defendant's criminal history, our court endorsed the reasoning behind the Sentencing Guidelines policy rendering this result:  'This [counting of the prior offense] reflects a policy that defendants who receive the benefit of a rehabilitative sentence and continue to commit crimes should not be treated with further leniency.'  Rockman, 993 F.2d at 814 (quoting U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(f), comment. (n. 9)). Because Rockman is factually aligned with this case as to the state nolo contendere plea, where adjudication was withheld, the same legal result or interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines in Rockman controls Tamayo's case. Additionally, our court specifically has held that a Florida nolo contendere plea, where adjudication was withheld, is a conviction supporting an enhanced sentence under the federal statutes and the Sentencing Guidelines. United States v. Mejias, 47 F.3d 401, 404 (11th Cir.1995) (per curiam) (addressing 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)); United States v. Jones, 910 F.2d 760, 761 (11th Cir.1990) (per curiam) (addressing U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1). Thus, the district court properly determined that Tamayo's unadjudicated state nolo contendere plea was a diversionary disposition under Rockman. 32 Tamayo's alternative, invalidity argument as to the judicially unsigned state disposition was raised in his resentencing memorandum and at the resentencing proceeding by his appellate counsel, who contends that the nolo contendere disposition is a nullity because it was unsigned by the state judge. 9 Concerning this particular issue, the district judge asked Tamayo's counsel at his resentencing if she had any case authority for the proposition that an unsigned state disposition was invalid and unenforceable to which the counsel responded that she did not. 10 Although the district judge ruled that the unsigned state nolo contendere disposition was includable in Tamayo's criminal history in the absence of contrary authority, she allowed Tamayo's counsel ten days to locate cases to support the invalidity proposition: 33 THE COURT: Now, I would like to say this about the issue that was presented today. I'm going to order the Marshal to cause Mr. Tamayo to remain in the district for a period of ten days. And if there are any case decisions about the fact that the judgment and conviction order was unsigned, but the court otherwise finds it was a conviction that you wish to bring to my attention within that ten-day period, you may do so. 34 R8-12-13. Tamayo's counsel filed no authority with the court during this ten-day period. 35 In Tamayo's appellate brief from the resentencing and at oral argument, his counsel cited only Florida law on the issue of the invalidity of the nolo contendere disposition, unsigned by the state judge. 11 The definition of what constitutes a valid conviction for the purpose of includability in Tamayo's Sentencing Guidelines criminal history, however, is governed by federal law, rather than state law. Mejias, 47 F.3d at 404. This court has held that there is a presumption of regularity regarding earlier state court convictions when they are challenged in subsequent federal proceedings. United States v. Medlock, 12 F.3d 185, 189 (11th Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 180, 130 L.Ed.2d 115 (1994). Furthermore, section 4A1.2(f) permits such a state disposition to count in a convicted defendant's criminal history, even if it is not formally entered. U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(f). We conclude that this provision encompasses the lack of the state judge's signature and observe that the judge's name is typed under the signature line. 12 36 Significantly, Tamayo has not claimed that he did not commit the firearms and drug offenses for which he was arrested in November, 1988, the crimes to which he pled nolo contendere. Furthermore, the district court had the evidence of certified copies of the relevant state court record, including the clerk's entries on the state docket sheet. 13 His sole alternative argument is technical, the subject state disposition is invalid under Florida law because the judge did not sign it; thus, it cannot constitute a diversionary disposition under the Sentencing Guidelines. When the challenge to a prior judgment is merely technical based on a disposition that is unsigned by the judge, federal courts will recognize the validity of the order if there is evidence to show that the judgment or sentence actually was imposed. See United States v. Jones, 722 F.2d 632, 636 (11th Cir.1983) (finding that an order imposing sentence was binding even though it was unsigned because the reality of the situation was that the defendant had been sentenced orally and had begun to serve his sentence); see also United States v. Black, 525 F.2d 668, 669-70 (6th Cir.1975) (per curiam) (holding that an unsigned state court order was sufficient to prove a prior conviction where the defendant subsequently admitted the existence of the conviction). 37 Tamayo does not dispute that he was sentenced to credit for three days of time served pursuant to the subject nolo contendere plea. We conclude that the fact that the state nolo contendere disposition was unsigned by the state judge does not preclude its inclusion in Tamayo's criminal history as a diversionary disposition under Rockman. Accordingly, the district court correctly did not recognize Tamayo's alternative argument concerning the invalidity of the state, judicially unsigned nolo contendere disposition.