Opinion ID: 1321874
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The district court approached the sentencing hearing with an open mind.

Text: A district court judge must approach a sentencing hearing with an open mind and rely on meaningful consideration of the evidence presented at the hearing. See United States v. Pless, 982 F.2d 1118, 1129-30 (7th Cir.1992). Likewise, the defendant has a due process right to be sentenced on the basis of accurate information. See United States v. England, 555 F.3d 616, 622 (7th Cir.2009); United States v. Jones, 454 F.3d 642, 652 (7th Cir.2006). Thus, if the defendant establishes that the sentencing court relied on critical, inaccurate information when announcing the sentence, a defendant may be granted the remedy of resentencing. See Jones, 454 F.3d at 652; Simonson v. Hepp, 549 F.3d 1101, 1107 (7th Cir.2008) (discussing sentencing in the habeas context). Evidentiary standards are, however, relaxed at sentencing, and a sentencing court may permissibly rely on information that has sufficient indicia of reliability to support its probable accuracy. See United States v. Rollins, 544 F.3d 820, 838 (7th Cir.2008) (internal citations omitted). Even a district court's unqualified statements about its understanding of a defendant's role in the conduct at issue do not necessarily create reversible error, unless the district court indicates that it has made up its mind prior to receiving evidence. Compare Pless (holding that the district court need not bring a tabula rasa to issues fully aired at trial and relevant to sentencing and, therefore, its strong statements before sentencing did not deny the defendant a fair hearing) with United States v. Schroeder, 536 F.3d 746, 753 (7th Cir.2008) (holding that the defendant was denied a fair sentencing hearing because the district court announced its conclusion as to a relevant loss before receiving the defendant's evidence and appeared not to consider the defense's arguments). Pulley contends his case is more like Schroeder than like Pless. We disagree. In the present case the district court not only identified the factual conflict at the outset of Pulley's sentencing, but it held exhaustive hearings and heard Anderson's and Pulley's testimonies to explore the disputed facts. In the end, the district court found Anderson credible not because it had already done so at his sentencing, but because it found that his story was essentially internally consistent and that he had no motive to lie. The district court amply demonstrated that it approached Pulley's sentencing with an open mind. Pulley also contends that there was overwhelming evidence that he did not participate in the Members' Advantage scheme, implying that the district court was wrong to find Anderson credible. As we noted above, a district court's credibility determinations are rarely overturned and, in the present case, where the district court provided sufficient reasons to find Anderson credible, we cannot agree that the district court erred.