Opinion ID: 201882
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Resentencing Under Booker

Text: 14 Medina's several convictions subjected him to a statutorily-prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years, composed of a mandatory 10-year sentence under 21 U.S.C. § 841 for drug possession and a 5-year addition for the weapons count under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The trial court determined that the Federal Sentencing Guidelines mandated a longer sentence for the drug-possession charges, and sentenced Medina to 15 years, 8 months for the drugs, the minimum it believed the Guidelines permitted it to impose. The Guidelines sentence and the consecutive 5-year sentence for the weapons charge together left Medina facing a total sentence of 20 years, 8 months. 15 In the time since the sentencing, the United States Supreme Court decided Booker, which severed the provisions of the Sentencing Guidelines that made those Guidelines binding on the district courts. Booker, 125 S.Ct. at 764. Because this case was pending on direct review when Booker was decided, we are obligated to apply Booker to it. Id. at 769. 16 We have held that  Booker error is established whenever `a defendant's Guidelines sentence was imposed under a mandatory Guidelines system.' United States v. Fornia-Castillo, 408 F.3d 52, 73 (1st Cir.2005) (quoting United States v. Antonakopoulos, 399 F.3d 68, 75 (1st Cir.2005)). Where an objection to the mandatory application of the Guidelines was made before the trial court, the government has the burden of proving the harmlessness of the error beyond a reasonable doubt. Fornia-Castillo, 408 F.3d at 73-74. Here the government concedes that Medina preserved his Booker claim below, and further concedes that it cannot prove the harmlessness of the error. It therefore agrees with Medina that remand for resentencing is warranted. Accordingly, we remand the case for resentencing in light of Booker.