Opinion ID: 2998530
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Waiver of District Court’s Relevant Conduct

Text: Determination We find that Ortiz neither waived nor forfeited the issue of relevant conduct and this issue was properly preserved. Waiver is the intentional relinquishment and abandonment of a known right. United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 733 (1993). Waiver differs from forfeiture, which is simply the failure to make a timely assertion of a right. Id. Waiver extinguishes any error that the district court may have made and precludes appellate review. United States v. Staples, 202 F.3d 992, 995 (7th Cir. 2000). Forfeiture permits plain error review. Id. A common distinction we draw between waiver and forfeiture is that waiver comes about intentionally whereas forfeiture occurs through neglect. Id. The government argues that Ortiz waived any right to appeal the district court’s relevant conduct determination because he failed to object after the district court specifi- 4 No. 03-1471 cally solicited objections to its findings. We find this argument unconvincing. We have held that we construe waiver principles liberally in favor of the defendant. United States v. Sumner, 265 F.3d 532, 538 (7th Cir. 2001). The record reflects that Ortiz’s counsel objected to the additional drug quantities asserted in the presentence report. Ortiz’s counsel filed written objections to the alleged additional relevant conduct. Ortiz’s counsel also stated at the sentencing hearing, “Mr. Ortiz argues that his drug quantity should be calculated only on the counts he has pled to . . . Mr. Ortiz would argue to the Court that that’s the full extent of his involvement in drugs as it relates to both the indictment and his relevant conduct.” Sentencing Hr’g Tr., Vol. II at 10-11. The fact that Ortiz’s counsel did not continue to object regarding the additional relevant conduct, after the judge ruled on Ripoll’s testimony, does not constitute waiver. In addition, after finding that Ripoll was credible and that the alleged additional transactions should be considered relevant conduct, the district court specifically limited objections to those “other than what you have already argued.” Sentencing Hr’g Tr., Vol. II at 30. We have held that when a defendant consistently disputes an issue, and the district court does not specifically elicit objections to the adequacy of the findings, the defendant is not required to interpose a further objection to the adequacy of the district court’s findings after the district court has ruled. United States v. Freitag, 230 F.3d 1019, 1025 n. 7 (7th Cir. 2000). Ortiz objected to the presentencing report, and he argued at sentencing that the district court should only attribute to him the drug quantity to which he pled. The government is arguing, in essence, that defendants must take exception to district judges’ rulings, and the clear language of Fed. R. Crim P. 51(a) states that there is no need to do so. The actions of Ortiz, through his counsel, are sufficient to have preserved this issue. No. 03-1471 5