Court Opinion

ID: 9499099
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:37:34.613874+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:16.814801
License: Public Domain

CLAY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
Because the majority opinion improperly bifurcates the reasonableness analysis from an assessment of whether the government has successfully rebutted the presumption that Defendant’s substantive rights were affected when Defendant was sentenced under a mandatory sentencing regime, I concur in the judgment only.
The majority overly relies on the district court’s statement that it would impose the same sentence “using the guidelines as guidelines as distinguished from rules” to conclude that no Booker plain error occurred. Such a statement from a district court is insufficient to rebut the presumption of plain error which exists when a defendant is sentenced pursuant to mandatory sentencing guidelines. Rather, this Court requires an indication from the district court that it properly considered the § 3553 factors in reaching its alternative sentence before we conclude that the government has successfully rebutted the presumption of plain error. See United States v. Chandler, 419 F.3d 484, 486 (6th Cir.2005); United States v. Strbac, 129 Fed.Appx. 235, 238 (6th Cir.2005).
In circumstances such as the instant ease (where a defendant was sentenced pre-Booker, but without contemporaneous objection to the sentence), we have held that we will presume that all elements of plain error have been satisfied. (Contrary to footnote 1 of the majority opinion, there is no presumption of “plain error” analysis or lack thereof, depending upon whether a sentencing error arises in the context of the Guidelines being treated as mandatory or advisory. The applicability of plain error analysis depends on the nature and context of the legal error being addressed on appeal.) We have also held, however, that the government may rebut the pre*660sumption that a defendant’s substantial rights were affected by the district court’s error by showing that a proper, alternative sentence was rendered. In other words, this Court does not reach the conclusion that the defendant’s substantial rights have not been affected until it can discern that the district court properly considered the § 3553 factors. In the instant case, the government has demonstrated to this Court that the district court did conduct a proper § 3553 analysis. I would therefore affirm the district court under this reasoning.