Opinion ID: 729695
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Terms of the Mandate.

Text: 33 Our original mandate vacated the sentence imposed by the district court and remanded for resentencing. See Londono, 76 F.3d at 37. In light of the deportation, the district judge pronounced his hands tied because our vacating of his erroneously-imposed sentence would require imposition of a new sentence (rather than a modification), something that the district judge held will require the presence of the defendant. Without expressing a view as to the district court's powers in the circumstances, or the effect of our original mandate, we think it best, having recalled the mandate, to obviate the issue. We therefore reinstate the erroneous sentence, see United States v. Pipitone, 67 F.3d 34, 39 (2d Cir.1995), remand for correction of the sentence pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 35(a)(1), and vacate the portion of the district court's order of July 16, 1996 that directs the clerk to remove the case from the active calendar. 34 In so doing we direct that further proceedings be assigned to a different judge. To reassign a case on remand, we need only find that the facts might reasonably cause an objective observer to question [the judge's] impartiality, Pescatore v. Pan American World Airways, Inc., 97 F.3d 1, 21 (2d Cir.1996) (quotes omitted); United States v. Microsoft Corp., 56 F.3d 1448, 1463 (D.C.Cir.1995) (per curiam), or [a]bsent proof of personal bias requiring recusation, that reassignment is advisable to preserve the appearance of justice. United States v. Robin, 553 F.2d 8, 10 (2d Cir.1977)(in banc). See also Rivas v. Brattesani, 94 F.3d 802, 808 (2d Cir.1996); Hispanics for Fair and Equitable Reapportionment v. Griffin, 958 F.2d 24, 26 (2d Cir.1992). The district court's handling of this case has several troubling aspects: (1) The district court's original judgment provided that Lopez-Aguilar should be deported immediately following his period of incarceration, and imposed a sentence sufficiently long to avoid any immediate need to seek a stay of deportation. At the same time, the sentence was one that (absent a stay) would run out before the appeal could be heard. (2) The district court's June 28 opinion states that [t]he parties refused the trial court's suggestion that they seek an amendment of the mandate, but we cannot find that recommendation in the record, 3 notwithstanding the implied holding of the district court's opinion that its hands were tied by our vacating of the sentence. (3) Although Judge Weinstein mentioned on the record his law clerk's report that the Second Circuit did not have the December 28 letter in the files, no one contacted any member of this panel, or the Clerk of the Second Circuit, to convey the news that the defendant had been deported. Instead, the district court issued an opinion implying without basis that this Court was aware of the deportation when it issued its January 5 opinion, a circumstance that the district court stated on the record would be embarrassing if true. In short, Judge Weinstein's handling of this case makes an exorbitant claim on appellate resources. 35 Accordingly, we direct that further proceedings be assigned to a different judge, that the district judge assigned to this case upon remand consider whether or not the sentencing error can be corrected in the defendant's absence, as well as the prosecutor's proposal (made twice at the March 6 hearing, but apparently ignored by Judge Weinstein) that the government obtain parole for Lopez-Aguilar to return to the country for resentencing. 36 Finally, we note that Fed.R.Crim.P. 43(c) has been amended to provide that the defendant need not be present when the proceeding involves a correction of sentence under Rule 35  (emphasis added). 4 Rule 35(a), in turn, discusses the correction of a sentence on remand: 37 The court shall correct a sentence that is determined on appeal ... to have been imposed in violation of law, to have been imposed as a result of an incorrect application of the sentencing guidelines, or to be unreasonable, upon remand of the case to the court-- 38 (1) for imposition of a sentence in accord with the findings of the court of appeals; 39       40 Although our original mandate post-dated the amendment, Lopez-Aguilar was originally sentenced prior to the effective date of the Rule 43(c) amendment. The district court will wish to consider on remand the impact of this amendment, including its applicability in this sequence of events, but we express no view (having heard no arguments) as to what that impact may be, or as to the merits of other issues that may arise in the district court as a result of this remand.