Opinion ID: 492431
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: District Court Authority to Resentence

Text: 7 The district court was correct in concluding that, despite the unfortunate language of our earlier remand order, 6 it had authority to resentence Mr. Shue. The district court was quite right in perceiving that the nature of the proceedings in this court during the first appeal supplied no reason for a deviation from the general rule that, when an appellate court affirms some counts and reverses others, it is open to the district court to resentence in order to effectuate the original sentencing intent. See United States v. Butz, 784 F.2d 239, 241 (7th Cir.1986); United States v. Kuna, 781 F.2d 104, 106 (7th Cir.1986) (Kuna II ); United States v. Jefferson, 760 F.2d 821, 823 (7th Cir.), vacated on other grounds, 474 U.S. 806, 106 S.Ct. 41, 88 L.Ed.2d 34 (1985), on remand, 782 F.2d 697 (7th Cir.1986). But see United States v. Henry, 709 F.2d 298, 305-06 (5th Cir.1983) (en banc). 7 Indeed, in Kuna II, this court had previously heard an appeal of the defendant's convictions. The court affirmed the convictions on all counts, but vacated a probation condition attached to one of the counts and remanded to the district court. The language used by the court to remand was: [W]e vacate the condition of probation and remand for resentencing. United States v. Kuna, 760 F.2d 813, 820 (7th Cir.1985) (Kuna I ). On remand, the district court resentenced Mr. Kuna by adjusting his entire sentence package. Mr. Kuna appealed the resentencing, arguing that the district court had no authority to resentence as it did. 781 F.2d at 105-06. This court stated that [a]lthough the language of Kuna I is less than precise, we can conclude that this court fully intended the district judge to re-evaluate Kuna's entire sentence package. Id. at 106. 8 Like the panel in Kuna II, we are mindful of the Supreme Court's admonition in DiFrancesco that  '[t]he Constitution does not require that sentencing should be a game in which a wrong move by the judge means immunity for the prisoner.'  449 U.S. at 135, 101 S.Ct. at 436 (quoting Bozza v. United States, 330 U.S. 160, 166-67, 67 S.Ct. 645, 649, 91 L.Ed. 818 (1947)). The practical realities of present sentencing practices require this approach. When a defendant is convicted of more than one count of a multicount indictment, the district court is likely to fashion a sentencing package in which sentences on individual counts are interdependent. When, on appeal, one or more counts of a multicount conviction are reversed and one or more counts are affirmed, the result is an unbundled sentencing package. See, e.g., United States v. Thomas, 788 F.2d 1250, 1260 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 187, 93 L.Ed.2d 121 (1986). Because the sentences are interdependent, the reversal of convictions underlying some, but not all, of the sentences renders the sentencing package ineffective in carrying out the district court's sentencing intent as to any one of the sentences on the affirmed convictions. 9 Thus, despite the previous panel's failure to vacate explicitly the sentencing package and remand for resentencing, we hold that the district court had the authority to reevaluate the sentencing package in light of the changed circumstances and resentence the defendant to effectuate the original sentencing intent. Moreover, as we shall discuss in the following paragraphs, there can be no question that such resentencing does not violate the double jeopardy clause or the due process clause. See Kuna II, 781 F.2d at 106.