Opinion ID: 492375
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Constitutionality of King's Sentence

Text: 21 It is well established that [m]isinformation or misunderstanding that is materially untrue regarding a prior criminal record, or material false assumptions as to any facts relevant to sentencing, renders the entire sentencing procedure invalid as a violation of due process. United States v. Malcolm, 432 F.2d 809, 816 (2d Cir.1970) (citing Townsend v. Burke, 334 U.S. 736, 740-41, 68 S.Ct. 1252, 1255, 92 L.Ed. 1690 (1948)). This Court has stated that for a sentence to be unconstitutional, actual reliance on the erroneous information need not necessarily be shown. See United States v. Robin, 545 F.2d 775, 779 n. 12 (2d Cir.1976). In McGee v. United States, 462 F.2d 243 (2d Cir.1972), we set aside a sentence after concluding that the sentencing judge's reliance on an improper factor was quite probable. Id. at 246. 22 We have no doubt that had Justice Starkey explicitly relied on the repealed statute in selecting King's sentence, the sentence would be tainted. For example, if the sentencing judge had said he was motivated to select a 25-year minimum sentence in part in the mistaken belief that such an MPI was necessary to ensure that King would serve at least seventeen years, the eight extra years of the minimum sentence would have been invalidly imposed. In fact, Justice Starkey made no explicit reference to the possibility of a reduction in the MPI. Nevertheless, he plainly had an incorrect view of the applicable parole law just one month before sentencing, a view he held with sufficient certainty to inform the jury. Moreover, in illustrating to the jury his incorrect view of the law, he used a minimum sentence of 25 years--precisely the MPI he imposed on King a month later. We believe that the unequivocal evidence of Justice Starkey's erroneous view of the parole law one month before sentencing, his use of a 25-year MPI to illustrate his view, and the absence of any indication that he learned of his error before sentencing raise a sufficient indication of at least partial reliance to establish a constitutional defect in the sentence. See United States v. Robin, supra; McGee v. United States, supra. Though a state court judge is accorded a presumption of acting in accordance with law when his rationale for reaching a decision is not set forth, see Harris v. Rivera, 454 U.S. 339, 347, 102 S.Ct. 460, 465, 70 L.Ed.2d 530 (1981), that presumption is not available when the judge makes clear in an erroneous instruction to a jury that he has an incorrect view of applicable law bearing upon sentencing. [T]he district judge may, in the ordinary case in which there has been no articulation, properly assume that the state trier of fact applied correct standards of federal law to the facts, in the absence of evidence ... that there is reason to suspect that an incorrect standard was in fact applied. Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 315, 83 S.Ct. 745, 758, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963) (footnote omitted) (emphasis added). Particularly in light of the insubstantiality of the State's interest in avoiding resentencing, we conclude that the writ should be granted unless the State arranges for resentencing. 23 The State argues that King's claim of a constitutional defect is foreclosed by United States v. Addonizio, 442 U.S. 178, 99 S.Ct. 2235, 60 L.Ed.2d 805 (1979), which stands for the proposition that a sentencing judge's reliance on a misunderstanding or erroneous prediction concerning the defendant's future parole will not invalidate a sentence. See United States v. Dean, 752 F.2d 535, 544-45 (11th Cir.1985), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 97, 93 L.Ed.2d 48 (1986); United States v. Coyer, 732 F.2d 196 (D.C.Cir.1984). Addonizio is inapposite. In that case a judge selected a sentence under the incorrect assumption that the Parole Commission would favorably exercise its discretion to release the prisoner after he served one-third of a ten-year sentence. United States v. Addonizio, supra, 442 U.S. at 181 n. 3, 99 S.Ct. at 2238 n. 3. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence, explaining that subsequent actions within the discretion of the Parole Commission do not affect the validity of the judgment itself. In Addonizio the sentencing judge had made an incorrect prediction of how the Parole Commission would exercise its discretion. By contrast, in the pending case, the sentencing judge made an objectively ascertainable error, id. at 187, 99 S.Ct. at 2241, about King's minimum statutory parole eligibility date, a matter of law rather than a prediction concerning an agency's discretion.