Opinion ID: 415577
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: increased sentence after retrial

Text: 76 In the first trial, Hicks was convicted on three counts, conspiracy to import marijuana into the United States, importation of marijuana, and distribution of marijuana. The court sentenced Hicks to two years of imprisonment followed by a two-year special parole term on Count 1, one year of imprisonment followed by a two-year special parole term on Count 2, and one year of imprisonment followed by a two-year special parole term on Count 3. The district court ordered these sentences to run consecutively; thus, the aggregate sentence was four years of imprisonment followed by six years of special parole terms. Subsequently, the district court granted appellants' motion for a new trial. The second trial began on the same three counts, but the district court granted appellants' motion for judgment of acquittal on Count 3 at the close of the government's case. The jury convicted Hicks on Counts 1 and 2. The district court then sentenced Hicks to four years of imprisonment followed by a four-year special parole term on Count 1 and four years of imprisonment followed by a four-year special parole term on Count 2. These sentences were to run concurrently. Hicks claims that the district court erred in imposing these sentences because they are more severe than the sentences he received at the first trial. 77 Due process requires that vindictiveness against a defendant for having successfully attacked his first conviction must play no part in the sentence he receives after a new trial. North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 725, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 2080, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969). To insure the absence of vindictiveness and to assure defendants that they could appeal or collaterally attack their first convictions without fear of reprisal, the Supreme Court developed a broad prophylactic rule in Pearce: 78 [W]henever a judge imposes a more severe sentence upon a defendant after a new trial, the reasons for his doing so must affirmatively appear. Those reasons must be based upon objective information concerning identifiable conduct on the part of the defendant occurring after the time of the original sentencing proceeding. And the factual data upon which the increased sentence is based must be made part of the record, so that the constitutional legitimacy of the increased sentence may be fully reviewed on appeal. 79 Id. at 726, 89 S.Ct. at 2081. 80 There are three possible reasons for declining to apply the Pearce rule in Hicks' case, but we find none to be persuasive. First, the government suggests that the district judge was not vindictive. We agree that the record suggests that the district judge was not vindictive in that he considered the second sentence to be equivalent in length to the first sentence. 43 However, the question whether this trial judge was in fact vindictive in this case is irrelevant to applying the Pearce rule. The broad prophylactic rule was developed so that a defendant could appeal or collaterally attack a conviction without any fear of reprisal. North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. at 725, 89 S.Ct. at 2080. We have no discretion to consider the district judge's apparent impartiality. United States v. Floyd, 519 F.2d 1031, 1034 (5th Cir.1975). 81 The second possible reason for declining to apply the Pearce rule concerns the distinction between retrial after appeal (as in Pearce ) and retrial after a motion for new trial (as here). But while retrial occurred after an appeal in Pearce, the Pearce rule itself is cast in language generally forbidding increased sentencing after a new trial. 395 U.S. at 726, 89 S.Ct. at 2081, 44 and we perceive no reason to excise Hicks' case from the compass of Pearce. The Pearce rule was created so that defendants could exercise their right of appeal without any fear of retaliation. Id. at 725, 89 S.Ct. at 2080. The rationale for the rule applies with equal force to defendants considering whether to exercise their right to move for a new trial. We admit that trial judges are not inevitably vindictive after granting a new trial motion, but trial judges are not inevitably vindictive after a new trial is made necessary by a successful appeal. 45 The central question is not actual vindictiveness, but rather whether there is a realistic likelihood of vindictiveness that might deter a defendant from exercising his rights. Blackledge v. Perry, 417 U.S. 21, 28, 94 S.Ct. 2098, 2102, 40 L.Ed.2d 628 (1974). Thus, we decline to distinguish this case from Pearce simply because Hicks' new trial was granted by the district court rather than by this court on appeal. 46 82 The third and final possible reason for distinguishing Pearce concerns the question whether Hicks actually received a more severe sentence after the second trial. On that point, Pearce is not helpful because Pearce concerned an increase in overall sentence. By contrast, the aggregate sentence which Hicks received after the second trial is not greater than the aggregate sentence which he received at his first trial. Both sentences total four years, but they differ count-by-count. 47 83 To calculate and compare aggregate sentences where the first sentence is vacated and the defendant is retried, reconvicted and resentenced, we follow the Second Circuit's approach in United States v. Markus, 603 F.2d 409, 413 (2d Cir.1979). See also Midgett v. McClelland, 547 F.2d 1194, 1197 (4th Cir.1977). In Markus, the Second Circuit disregarded the sentence on a count which the prosecution had dropped at the subsequent trial and then compared the defendant's sentence after the first and second trials. There is even greater reason to disregard the sentence attributable to Count 3 here than in United States v. Markus, supra; Count 3 was not merely dropped, but was dismissed for insufficiency of evidence. Cf. Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1, 15, 98 S.Ct. 2141, 2149, 57 L.Ed.2d 1 (1978) (retrial impermissible after reversal due to evidentiary insufficiency). We therefore disregard that part of the original sentence attributable to Count 3, which was dismissed at Hicks' second trial for lack of evidence. With respect to the terms of imprisonment, we exclude the one-year term of imprisonment imposed on Count 3 at the first trial. This means that the valid aggregate sentence of the first trial, three years' imprisonment, was increased to four years' imprisonment at the second trial. Because the trial judge failed to state affirmatively the reasons for the increase, this increase of one year violates the Pearce rule. 84 The special parole terms are also governed by the Pearce rule. See United States v. Barash, 428 F.2d 328, 331 (2d Cir.1970), new sentence after remand aff'd, 434 F.2d 358 (2d Cir.1970) (per curiam), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 938, 91 S.Ct. 928, 28 L.Ed.2d 217 (1971). In Hicks' first sentence, a two-year special parole term was imposed as to each count running consecutively. For purposes of comparison on the special parole term, we discount Count 1's special parole term, see Part V.A supra, and Count 3's special parole term, because Count 3 was dismissed for lack of evidence. This leaves a two-year special parole term from the first trial. The increase from two to four years violates the dictates of Pearce. 85 We therefore vacate Hicks' sentence and remand for resentencing 48 in a manner consistent with North Carolina v. Pearce, supra. 86 With respect to appellant Monaco, the judgment of the district court is in all respects AFFIRMED. 87 With respect to appellant Hicks, the conviction is AFFIRMED, but the sentence is VACATED AND REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.