Court Opinion

ID: 9499067
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:36:45.791865+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:15.681605
License: Public Domain

LUTTIG, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the judgment:
I would hold that Revels admitted the facts set forth in the PSR when, in response to a direct question from the court, he affirmed that he had no objection to any of the facts recited in the PSR. I am unpersuaded by the majority’s reasoning that United States v. Milam compels a contrary conclusion. It is unclear whether *453the majority opinion in Milam rested on the defendant’s silence or on his failure to object.1 Today’s majority assumes that Milam was a case of silence, but concludes that this case is governed by Milam because there is no significant difference between silence and an express disclaimer of objection. Accepting the majority’s assumption as to Milam, I disagree with its conclusion. There is a world of difference between a defendant’s complete silence with respect to the PSR, on the one hand, and a defendant’s affirmative representation to the court that he has no objection to the facts set forth in the PSR, on the other. I believe that there is no material difference between the latter statement and a defendant’s statement that he admits the facts contained in the PSR. Because, in my view, Revels admitted the facts underlying the enhancement of his sentence, I believe that there was no Sixth Amendment error.2 Accordingly, I concur in the judgment of the court affirming Revels’ sentence. I do not reach the question whether, had there been Sixth Amendment error, such error would have been harmless in light of the identical alternative sentence.

. Compare United States v. Milam, 443 F.3d 382, 387 (4th Cir.2006) ("To presume, infer, or deem a fact admitted because the defendant has remained silent ... is contrary to the Sixth Amendment.”), with id. ("[T]o presume an admission of an element of the crime from the failure to object would violate the well-established protections of the Sixth Amendment against presuming guilt or a finding of fact against the defendant."), and id. at 387 (Shedd, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (stating that the defendant in Milam "affirmatively represented that [he] had no additional objections” to the PSR).

. The majority notes, as if it supported its position rather than mine, that the district court reinforced with Revels the importance of the PSR. But of course, the fact that the court advised Revels of the importance of the PSR actually cuts in favor of the conclusion that I reach, namely, that Revels admitted the facts contained in the PSR when he stated that he had no objection to the PSR. The majority also claims that I attach no significance to Revels' Blakely objection. But of course, the Blakely objection — expressing Revels’ subjective view that he had not admitted the facts during the plea — has no bearing on the legal question whether his subsequent affirmation that he had no objection to the PSR constituted an admission of the facts therein.