Opinion ID: 2973212
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sixth Amendment Violations under Booker

Text: Booker held that “[a]ny fact (other than a prior conviction) which is necessary to support a sentence exceeding the maximum authorized by the facts established by a plea of guilty or a jury verdict must be admitted by the defendant or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt” or else the Sixth Amendment is violated. 125 S. Ct. at 756. The base offense level for a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B), the offense to which Defendant pleaded guilty, is fifteen. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2G2.4(a). Defendant was entitled to a three-level decrease for accepting responsibility. Id. § 3E1.1. Defendant’s sentence was enhanced a total of six levels based on three separate factors — (1) the Defendant’s use of a computer to commit the crime, (2) possession of more than ten items of child pornography, and (3) possession of pornographic images of children under age twelve — each of which carried a two-level increase. Id. § 2G2.4. Because Defendant did not admit to any of these facts, enhancing his sentence on these grounds under a mandatory 3 The Government erroneously asserts that the Defendant waived his Booker claim by failing to preserve a Sixth Amendment issue as part of his conditional guilty plea. There was no plea agreement to waive the right to appeal the sentence. We held in Oliver that we review Booker claims for plain error where the Defendant did not raise a Sixth Amendment objection below. Oliver, 397 F.3d at 377-78; see also United States v. Smith, 429 F.3d 620, 626-27 (6th Cir. 2005). No. 04-5283 United States v. Morgan Page 5 sentencing scheme violates the Sixth Amendment.4 See Booker, 125 S. Ct. at 756. We have previously held that such an enhancement of a sentence based on judge-found facts constitutes plain error in violation of Booker. See Oliver, 397 F.3d at 377-81. In addition, the district court applied the Guidelines as mandatory in sentencing the Defendant, contrary to Booker’s holding that the Guidelines must be treated as advisory. See 125 S. Ct. at 756-57. Because there is no “clear and specific evidence” that the Defendant would have faced the same sentence were the Guidelines treated as advisory, this also constitutes plain error. See United States v. Barnett, 398 F.3d 516, 529 (6th Cir.), cert. dismissed, 126 S. Ct. 33 (2005).