Court Opinion

ID: 9486906
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:03:39.812973+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:00.154483
License: Public Domain

K.K. HALL, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I believe that the majority has misconstrued the type of proceeding that was called for by our prior remand and, in doing so, has deprived Nolley of the assistance of counsel at a critical stage of the criminal proceedings. Accordingly, I would vacate the sentence and remand, once again, for resentencing.
I.
On the first appeal, this court remanded the case in a per curiam opinion that instructed the district court to “vacate one of the convictions under 21 U.S.C. § 841, to decrease by fifty dollars the amount assessed on Nolley under 18 U.S.C. § 3013, and to resentence Nolley.” United States v. Nolley, No. 90-5812, slip op. at 4, 1991 WL 118001 (4th Cir., July 25, 1991) (emphasis supplied).
After the remand, perhaps chagrined that his lawyer had filed an Anders brief in the face of a clearly meritorious issue for appeal, Nolley discharged his lawyer. The government does not contend that he did so with any intent to manipulate or disrupt the proceedings.
Without appointing a new lawyer for Nol-ley, and notwithstanding Nolley’s request for one, the district court resentenced Nolley. The entire transcript of resentencing is just a little over a page long. It begins with the district court noting that Nolley had discharged his attorney. Nonetheless, the court then jumped right into the resentencing. It vacated the possession with intent to distribute count, reduced the special assessment by fifty dollars, and announced that “everything else remains the same.” At the prompting of the prosecutor, the court asked Nolley if he had anything to say. Nolley said the magic words: “I need an attorney.” The court responded, “You can get you an attorney if you can. I understand that you discharged Mr. Andresen, is that right?” Nolley said, “Yes, sir,” and the court closed, “All right, that’s up to you. You’re appearing today pro se. Thank you. Take him back down.”
II.
The Sixth Amendment right to counsel extends to every stage of a criminal proceeding in which the substantial rights of the accused can be affected, Mempa v. Rhay, 389 U.S. 128, 88 S.Ct. 254, 19 L.Ed.2d 336 (1967), and an indigent defendant is entitled to counsel at government expense. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963). Sentencing is a “stage” of the criminal process to which the right to counsel applies. Mempa, 389 U.S. at 134, 88 S.Ct. at *83256; Townsend v. Burke, 334 U.S. 736, 68 S.Ct. 1252, 92 L.Ed. 1690 (1948).
This court remanded this case “for resen-tencing.” I see no difference between the initial sentencing and a resentencing. Nolley was entitled to be represented by counsel, he specifically asked for assistance of counsel, and his request was ignored. His right to counsel was clearly denied.
The majority acknowledges that honoring Nolley’s Sixth Amendment right might be the wiser practice, but it finds that the error here was harmless. In my view, this holding ignores clear law that the denial of counsel altogether is always reversible error; prejudice is presumed. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 692, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2067, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984) (prejudice is presumed from “actual or constructive denial of the assistance of counsel altogether”). In United States v. Peak, 992 F.2d 39, 42 (4th Cir.1993), a case involving an attorney’s failure to file a notice of appeal upon his client’s request, we put it this way:
[Djeprivations of counsel altogether ... violate the Sixth Amendment without the need for even the most elementary judicial interpretation. No one would seriously contend that a defendant need not have an attorney at trial if there is no “reasonable probability” that an attorney could win an acquittal. We see no reason to apply a different rule on direct appeal, where the defendant has the same absolute right to counsel he enjoys before conviction.
In Peak, a habeas writ was granted, giving the defendant a new judgment from which to take his direct appeal, notwithstanding that he could proffer no potentially meritorious issues for appeal. The Sixth Amendment says what it says, and when its literal terms are directly violated, the error must be corrected.
The majority cites two inapposite cases dealing with the defendant’s personal 'presence at trial or sentencing. United States v. Rogers, 853 F.2d 249, 252 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 946, 109 S.Ct. 375, 102 L.Ed.2d 364 (1988) (violations of Fed. R.Crim.P. 43 are subject to harmless error analysis); United States v. Ruthers, 989 F.2d 496 (4th Cir.1993) (correction of sentence through a telephone conference at defendant’s request was harmless error). Neither of these cases even involves a denial of counsel. Likewise, Fed.R.Crim.P. 43(e)(4) is of no relevance here, because we did not remand for a Rule 35 reduction of sentence.
Finally, even if we could subject the strict words of the Sixth Amendment to harmless error review, the error here would not be harmless. Vacating one conviction did not change Nolley’s guidelines range (235-293 months), but it could have changed his sentence. The district court’s initial sentence was 240 months, which presumably took into account the number and type of convictions Nolley had. On vacating one conviction, the district court had the discretion and power to reduce Nolley’s sentence by up to five months. In fact, when we found a violation of double jeopardy in the first appeal, we relied in part on the possibility of Nolley’s receiving a shorter sentence on remand:
[T]he district court ... sentenced Nolley toward the low end of the resulting guideline. It is not possible to be certain whether the separate convictions for possession and for distribution influenced the sentence selected within the guideline range. If the final sentence was greater because of the number of convictions, the sentence could constitute impermissible cumulative punishment.
Nolley, slip op. at 3. This very uncertainty is precisely why we remanded “for resentenc-ing.” Thus, though it was limited by the terms of this court’s remand, the resentenc-ing was not a mere clerical exercise, but rather a real proceeding with real things on the line. It is conceivable that, with the assistance of counsel, Nolley could have prevailed on the district court to reduce his sentence.
I would therefore vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.