Court Opinion

ID: 9495149
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:55:37.570018+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:50.589085
License: Public Domain

SLOVITER, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
This court held in United States v. Vazquez, 271 F.3d 93 (2001), a closely divided en banc decision, that the defendant’s sentence following his conviction for drug conspiracy was not plain error despite the failure to submit the issue of drug quantity to the jury. I wrote for the dissent that the error affected defendant’s substantial rights, relying on the decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey. The Supreme Court has now unanimously rejected that view in United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. -, 122 S.Ct. 1781, 152 L.Ed.2d 860 (2002). Therefore, I join the opinion of the majority.