Opinion ID: 789140
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Disposition of the Pending Appeal

Text: 62 With these principles in mind, we turn to the appropriate disposition of the pending appeal. The District Judge calculated the applicable Guidelines range to be 188 to 235 months, the range specified for the Defendant's adjusted offense level of 33 and his Criminal History Category of IV. We agree with that calculation. With this range in mind, the District Judge, conforming to the then-mandatory duty to apply the Guidelines, imposed the sentence required by U.S.S.G. § 5G1.1(a). This provision instructs that when the applicable Guidelines range exceeds the statutory maximum for a defendant's offense, the sentencing judge should impose the statutory maximum. Thus, the judge was required to implement the applicable Guidelines range to the greatest extent permitted by the applicable statutory maximum. Faithfully applying section 5G1.1(a), Chief Judge Scullin sentenced Crosby to ten years' imprisonment. 63 Crosby's sentence was imposed on October 7, 2003. Obviously, the sentencing judge did not sentence with awareness of Booker/Fanfan , which was decided on January 12, 2005, or even of Blakely, which was decided on June 24, 2004. Since Crosby's case is now pending on direct review, Booker/Fanfan must be applied to this appeal, see Remedy Opinion, ___ U.S. at ___, 125 S.Ct. at 769; Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 328, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987), just as the Supreme Court itself applied Booker/Fanfan to the pending appeals of Booker and Fanfan. 64 The District Judge, sentencing before Booker/Fanfan , quite understandably committed a Sixth Amendment error by mandatorily selecting a sentence dictated by the applicable Guidelines range, which had been calculated on the basis of facts not found by a jury or admitted by the Defendant. The issue for us is to determine the consequences of this error. 65 Crosby contends that he is entitled to resentencing. He argues that the sentencing judge made factual determinations that increased his base offense level by nine levels, thereby significantly increasing his sentencing range from 77-96 months to 188-235 months. He further argues that it was this enhanced sentencing range that dictated his sentence at the statutory maximum. 66 The Government contends that the sentence should be affirmed. The Government does not dispute that the sentencing judge committed a Sixth Amendment error, but contends that such an error is harmless in view of the reasonableness of the length of the sentence and should be overlooked under the plain error doctrine in view of the defendant's lack of adequate preservation of a Sixth Amendment objection. The Government also argues that had the sentencing judge regarded the applicable Guideline range as only a range to be consider[ed] under section 3553(a), any sentence of less than ten years would have been unreasonable and subject to reversal on appeal by the Government under the now applicable standard of review for reasonableness. 67 As we explained in Part III(B) above, in most cases in which a sentencing judge, prior to Booker/Fanfan , has committed a procedural error in imposing a sentence, a remand to afford the judge an opportunity to determine whether the original sentence would have been nontrivially different under the post- Booker/Fanfan regime will normally be necessary to determine whether the error is harmless, or, if not properly preserved, is available for review under plain error analysis. We conclude that such a remand is warranted in this case. The Government's legitimate interests will be fully protected by the opportunity to appeal in the event that the District Court elects to resentence and imposes a sentence properly challengeable on appeal. 68 Because a remand is warranted, we have no occasion on this appeal to consider whether Crosby's sentence is unreasonable solely because of its length and therefore express no views on the considerations that might inform an appellate decision as to the reasonableness of the length of a sentence. 69 Accordingly, without requiring alteration of Crosby's sentence, we will remand the case to the District Court so that Chief Judge Scullin may consider, based on the circumstances at the time of the original sentence, whether to resentence, after considering the currently applicable statutory requirements as explicated in Booker/Fanfan and this opinion. In making that threshold determination, the District Court should obtain the views of counsel, at least in writing, but need not require the presence of the Defendant, see Fed.R.Crim.P. 43(b)(3). Upon reaching its decision (with or without a hearing) whether to resentence, the District Court should either place on the record a decision not to resentence, with an appropriate explanation, or vacate the sentence and, with the Defendant present, resentence in conformity with the SRA, Booker/Fanfan , and this opinion, including an appropriate explanation, see § 3553(c). From whatever final decision the District Court makes, the jurisdiction of this Court to consider a subsequent appeal may be invoked by any party by notification to the Clerk within ten days of the District Court's decision, see United States v. Jacobson, 15 F.3d 19 (2d Cir.1994), in which event the renewed appeal will be assigned to this panel.