Opinion ID: 536011
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pearce and the Presumption of Vindictiveness.

Text: 14 The basic theorem of North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969) holds that, where a defendant has successfully challenged his conviction and is resentenced after a retrial, a sentencing judge may not impose a harsher sentence than was first imposed unless the new sentence is based on events subsequent to the first trial. Imposition of a harsher sentence by the original judge triggers a presumption of vindictiveness that acts as an aid to defendants who would otherwise have to shoulder a heavy burden of proof. Marshall v. Lansing, 839 F.2d 933 (3d Cir.1988) would extend the notion of institutional vindictiveness into the area of parole decisions. 15 The gist of the government's argument to us is that the district court applied the Pearce presumption to the instant case and that it erred by doing so. Section II of our opinion deals with whether or not the district court did apply Pearce. For the moment, however, we shall assume arguendo that it did so and move directly to the question of whether Pearce governs this case. 16 The government contends that a defendant must demonstrate the existence of two factual predicates to earn the Pearce presumption; (i) reversal by a higher tribunal and (ii) imposition of a harsher sentence below. Essentially, the government argues that Pearce is a brightline test designed to assuage a chilling effect on appeals or collateral attacks on sentences by defendants. To this end, the government puts forward the notion that Kindred fails the second prong of the Pearce test because his sentence on second reconsideration was more lenient. Kindred makes no response to this argument. We find the government's position here unpersuasive. The contention conceals an intellectual sleight of hand. Although, de jure, Kindred's sentence looks less harsh, (recategorization down and 7 month award) de facto, Kindred is being made to serve the category seven maximum for an offense that merits only category six severity. 17 The government is on surer ground in its claim that Kindred fails the first prong of the Pearce test because it was the Commission itself and not any other, higher, tribunal that changed Kindred's sentence. Thus, according to the government, the crucial event from which vindicativeness could be imputed was lacking. The gravamen of Kindred's opposing claim for Pearce is that, rather than a reversal by a higher tribunal being the trigger event to impute vindictiveness, presence of a motive for self-vindication in the original sentencing authority can fire vindictiveness. 18 The case law does not lend support to Kindred's argument. Prudentially, the Supreme Court's purpose in fashioning the presumption in Pearce was to protect a defendant's right to appeal his conviction against the chill of a vindictive tribunal. 395 U.S. at 724-25, 89 S.Ct. at 2080. The Court captured the notion of vindictiveness in the discrete occurrence of a reversal on appeal prompting the lower court to punish the defendant. Vindictiveness does not exist in a vacuum. As a matter of logic, vindictiveness becomes a danger only where an event prods the sentencing court into a posture of self-vindication. Absent a triggering event, the court will not presume vindictiveness. See Texas v. McCullough, 475 U.S. 134, 139, 106 S.Ct. 976, 978-79, 89 L.Ed.2d 104 (1986). Reversal on appeal or an order to the lower tribunal to grant a new hearing (Marshall ) constitutes a salient triggering event. In the instant case nothing occurred to trigger the presumption of vindictiveness. As the government states, far from being reversed on appeal, or by an order to grant a new hearing, the case came back to the Commission by the mechanical operation of law. Kindred's second appearance before the Commission was not in the role of the errant schoolboy who dared challenge his elder's wisdom but rather that of a passive cog in a statutory machine. Consequently, Kindred's argument that a motivation for self-vindication without anything to excite it can raise the Pearce presumption of vindictiveness is mistaken both as a matter of logic and of law. 19