Opinion ID: 1207983
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Of the District Court's Procedural Errors

Text: On a Crosby remand, the district court must determine whether its sentence under the Booker regime would have been materially different from the sentence originally imposed; if the answer is no, nothing further is required; if the answer is yes, there must be a resentencing. See United States v. Ferrell, 485 F.3d 687, 688-89 (2d Cir.2007). The District Court here did not respond directly to the required inquiry. Indeed, the court and counsel immediately began to discuss whether a more lenient sentence should be imposed in light of the sentencing disparities identified by counsel. This was procedural error because [o]nly if the district court answers the threshold [ Crosby ] determination in the affirmative does a resentencing occur. Id. We are unable to conclude that the District Court's Crosby error was harmless. See United States v. Williams, 524 F.3d 209, 214 (2d Cir.2008) (recognizing that procedural error at sentencing can be reviewed for harmlessness). First, the District Court adhered to its original sentence after it took ... into account what the court perceived to be the government's customary practice of voiding plea agreements where a defendant violates the terms of the agreement. That such a customary practice exists is unsupported by the record before the District Court. See Cavera, 550 F.3d at 190 (noting that a district court commits procedural error when it rests its sentence on a clearly erroneous finding of fact). Second, although a district court alone may determine what effect to give to a 5K1.1 letter, in so doing may consider the extent of downward departures or variances received by other similarly situated defendants who have cooperated, and may even decline a reduction from the Guidelines altogether, the court here erred in the course of exercising its discretion by (1) substantially increasing Timewell's sentence from what it otherwise would have been and (2) giving as a reason for the increase the government's failure to comply with the purported customary prosecutorial practice of voiding cooperation agreements upon breach by the defendant. The 5K1.1 letter, which the government saw fit not to revoke in Timewell's case despite his breach of the cooperation agreement, allows a downward departure from the Sentencing Guidelines in cases where a defendant provides substantial assistance to the government. Whether such a letter is merited is confided to the sole determination of the government, subject only to constitutional limitations. See Wade v. United States, 504 U.S. 181, 185-86, 112 S.Ct. 1840, 118 L.Ed.2d 524 (1992). That the government usually voids cooperation agreements upon a breach by the defendant should not be reason to constrain a district court from giving proper effect to a 5K1.1 letter if the government decides to submit a 5K1.1 letter notwithstanding the defendant's breach of the cooperation agreement. In addition, the government indicated, and the District Court appeared to accept, that, absent a downward departure for substantial cooperation, the Guidelines would have recommended that Timewell serve a life sentence. As previously discussed, however, the pre-sentence report, to which the District Court adhered when calculating the Guidelines recommendation at Timewell's initial sentencing, established a total offense level of 41 carrying a sentencing range of only 324 to 405 months. The description of the sentencing range to which Timewell would have been subject absent his substantial cooperation therefore substantially overstated Timewell's actual Guidelines range. See Cavera, 550 F.3d at 190 (indicating that a District Court errs when it makes a mistake in its Guidelines calculation). Because we cannot determine the extent to which these errors affected the District Court's analysis, we are unable to discern how the District Court would have answered the threshold Crosby question in the absence of these errors. See Crosby, 397 F.3d at 115 (noting that procedural error is cause for concern because, in many cases, it will be impossible to tell whether the judge would have imposed the same sentence had the judge not felt compelled to impose a Guidelines sentence). The District Court also erred in its written opinion by mischaracterizing the unwarranted disparities argument made by defense counsel. The District Court wrote that counsel for Timewell argued that Timewell received a disparate sentence as compared to Michael Vondette, Stephen Johnson, Patrick Bowler, and Thomas Sherrett. However, Timewell's application listed only Sherrett and Johnson as comparators. Indeed, a determination of whether to be resentenced on a Crosby remand must be based only on the circumstances existing at the time of the original sentence. See Ferrell, 485 F.3d at 688; Crosby, 397 F.3d at 118, n. 19. Under this rule, the court could not, in the course of its threshold Crosby analysis, consider the sentence of Bowler or Johnson, both of which were imposed after Timewell's original sentence was pronounced. Notably, the District Court also erred in stating that Johnson testified against Vondette in this Court. Accordingly, we find that the District Court erred in neglecting to answer the question posed by the Crosby remand of Timewell's original sentence, namely, whether, based on the circumstances at the time of the original sentence, the District Court would have imposed a materially different sentence under the post- Booker sentencing regime, and that this error was not harmless. See Crosby, 397 F.3d at 118. The law of the case does not bar Timewell from challenging the manner in which the Crosby remand was conducted despite the Court's adherence to the original sentence. We are therefore constrained to remand the case once more to enable the District Court to formulate a proper response to the Crosby inquiry. The District Court should state the reasons for the response without consideration of past practices of the government in regard to the rescission of cooperation agreements. Such consideration was error. Should the court determine to revisit its original sentence, we ask it to consider: (1) that a district court maybut is not required toconsider sentencing disparity among co-defendants under 18 U.S.C § 3553(a)(6); United States v. Frias, 521 F.3d 229, 236 n. 8 (2d Cir.2008); (2) that the United States Attorney's Office recommended a substantial departure from the Guidelines sentence in view of Timewell's excellent cooperation and asserted that a significant disparity in the sentences imposed upon Timewell, Johnson and Sherrett was not warranted; (3) that the appropriateness of any reduction of sentence below the Guidelines should be governed by the provisions set out in U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1: (a) The appropriate reduction shall be determined by the court for reasons stated that may include, but are not limited to, consideration of the following: (1) the court's evaluation of the significance and usefulness of the defendant's assistance, taking into consideration the government's evaluation of the assistance rendered; (2) the truthfulness, completeness, and reliability of any information or testimony provided by the defendant; (3) the nature and extent of the defendant's assistance; (4) any injury suffered, or any danger or risk of injury to the defendant or his family resulting from his assistance; (5) the timeliness of the defendant's assistance. In the absence of a showing of any unfairness or the appearance of any unfairness on the part of the District Judge, we reject Timewell's claim that the case should be reassigned to another judge on remand. See United States v. Bradley, 812 F.2d 774, 782 n. 9 (2d Cir.1987).