Opinion ID: 183690
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Continuation of Sentencing Hearing

Text: This circuit grants district courts wide discretion to grant or deny a request for continuance. United States v. Fink, 499 F.3d 81, 89 (1st Cir.2007); United States v. Saccoccia, 58 F.3d 754, 770 (1st Cir.1995). The great deference shown to district courts is disturbed only for a manifest abuse of discretion where the district court indulged a serious error of law or suffered a meaningful lapse of judgment, resulting in substantial prejudice to the movant. Saccoccia, 58 F.3d at 770. Our review of a grant or denial of a continuance is case-specific. United States v. Moore, 362 F.3d 129, 135 (1st Cir.2004). We have previously held that, when considering an appeal from a denial of a continuance, we assess first, the reasons contemporaneously presented in support of the request for the continuance, and give secondary consideration to: the amount of time needed for effective preparation, the amount of time actually available for preparation, the amount of time previously available for preparation and how assiduously the movant used that time, the extent to which the movant has contributed to his perceived predicament, the complexity of the case, the availability of assistance from other sources, the probable utility of a continuance, the extent of inconvenience to others (such as the court, the witnesses, and the opposing party) should a continuance ensue, and the likelihood of injustice or unfair prejudice attributable to the denial of a continuance. Saccoccia, 58 F.3d at 770; accord United States v. Rodriguez-Leon, 402 F.3d 17, 27 (1st Cir.2005); Moore, 362 F.3d at 135; United States v. Brand, 80 F.3d 560, 564 (1st Cir.1996). The same considerations are relevant here, where we review the grant of a continuance rather than its denial. Our analysis is guided by our earlier ruling in United States v. Fink , where we overturned a district court's denial of a sentencing continuance that would have allowed the government time to review whether a previous conviction marked the defendant as a career offender. 499 F.3d at 83. In Fink, the government requested additional time to review the sentencing implications of a vacated prior conviction. Id. at 88-89. There, as here, the last-minute vacatur by a state court resulted in significant confusion as to the appropriate federal sentence, and prompted the trial court to grant an eleven-day continuance. Id. However, in Fink, the district court denied a subsequent request to continue. Id. at 89. On appeal, we found the government's request for a second continuance justifiable given its surprise at the vacatur, and we ruled that the trial court's interest in an expeditious sentencing did not outweigh the government's interest in a sentence based on an accurate criminal history. Id. Concluding that the court should have granted the government a continuance, we reversed and remanded the case. This case echoes Fink. West's sentencing hearing was initially scheduled for September 24, 2007. It was delayed sixteen days until October 10 because the state court granted West's motion to vacate. The need for the continuance was largely of West's own making; West sought to vacate his 2001 conviction just five days before the sentencing hearing, and his motion was granted the morning of the sentencing, giving the government no more than several hours notice. In light of the timing of events, the government's request for additional time to review the vacatur strikes us as entirely appropriate. The reasonableness of the request is further buttressed by the government's clearly articulated reasons, listing precisely what steps it intended to take if the continuance were granted: So, what I would like to do is have an opportunity to inquire of the Commonwealth, one, did you know about this, two, is this the proper basis for vacating a prior conviction, and three, are you intending to go forward with a new trial on Mr. West in the state court . . . . See id. (We find the government's request for time . . . justifiable . . . especially since it informed the district court precisely what steps it would take if the continuance were granted, i.e., that it would consult directly with the Massachusetts state court for clarification of the issue.). Faced with a last-minute vacatur and a request for a brief continuance with a clearly defined purpose, the district judge's grant was entirely justifiable and well within his discretion. In granting a continuance, the district court did what we thought the district court should have done in Fink. It committed no error. We are also mindful of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(b)(1), which provides that a sentence be imposed without unnecessary delay. See, e.g., United States v. Espinola, 242 Fed.Appx. 709, 711 (1st Cir.2007) (Requests for continuances of sentencing are disfavored given the district court's obligation to `impose sentence without unnecessary delay.'), vacated on other grounds, 552 U.S. 1240, 128 S.Ct. 1473, 170 L.Ed.2d 294 (2008). Nonetheless, we are persuaded that the circumstances of this case fall squarely within the ambit of Rule 32(b)(2), which allows for a change to any of Rule 32's time limits for good cause. See Brackett v. United States, 270 F.3d 60, 70 (1st Cir.2001) (citing Rule 32's good cause provision in explaining that a federal judge could continue a sentencing hearing when there are pending state proceedings to vacate state convictions instituted before the federal sentence is imposed), abrogated on other grounds by Johnson v. United States, 544 U.S. 295, 125 S.Ct. 1571, 161 L.Ed.2d 542 (2005); cf. United States v. Casas, 425 F.3d 23, 36 (1st Cir.2005) (holding that a thirty-one month delay between conviction and sentencing was not without good reason and so did not infringe upon the defendants' Sixth Amendment rights to a speedy trial). Furthermore, even assuming arguendo that the district judge abused his discretion in granting the continuance, we perceive no prejudice as a result of the continuance. Although West had been in custody for over a year, discounting career offender status, West was facing a guidelines sentence of twelve to eighteen months. A two- or three-week continuance would not likely have resulted in any additional time in prison. That West ultimately faced a guideline sentence of at least 262 months was not the result of the continuance, but of the actions of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts judiciary and the calculation of an otherwise uncontested sentencing guideline range. The government's stated purpose for the continuance was to sort out irregularities with the vacatur, including its validity, and the district court granted the continuance on this basis. Neither we nor the trial court find a valid distinction between West's attempt to vacate his earlier conviction and the government's attempt to vacate the vacatur.