Court Opinion

ID: 9474328
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:54:16.796292+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:01.423618
License: Public Domain

WALLACE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
The majority opinion properly analyzes the issues and comes to the proper conclusion except for the ordered remand for reconsideration of sentencing. From that, I dissent.
The majority did not hold that the sentence imposed on count IV was improper, but remanded “for reconsideration of Soto’s sentence since his conviction on both counts may have affected the punishment set for Count IV.” Maj. op. at 564 (emphasis added). The majority relies on United States v. Aguilar, 756 F.2d 1418 (9th Cir.1985), to support its remand for resentencing. I interpret that case differently.
In Aguilar, the defendant was convicted on three separate counts. The original indictment included two clauses under each count: (1) falsely acting as an Immigration and Naturalization Service agent, and (2) obtaining money while acting as an INS agent. The government elected at trial only to proceed under the first clause of each count to avoid a problem of multiplicity. Id. at 1421. The district court, however, convicted the defendant based on violations of both clauses under counts I and II. The court found the defendant guilty under count III only on the first clause. Id. We concluded that the second clause of counts I and II had been effectively dismissed by the government and, as a result, remanded for resentencing because the district court’s sentencing on counts I and II could have been influenced by the fact that the court found the defendant guilty of violating both clauses. Id. at 1424. We did not remand for resentencing on count III since the district court’s sentencing under that count was based on a violation of only the first clause. Id. at 1425. Aguilar, therefore, stands for the proposition that a remand for resentencing under an individual count may be necessary when a district court erroneously convicts a defendant based on one or more clauses under that count. Since we did not remand for resentencing under count III, Aguilar actually provides more support for not remanding to resentence Soto on count IV than it does for the remand fashioned by the majority.
The majority also cites United States v. Ray, 731 F.2d 1361 (9th Cir.1984), but that case would not require a remand either. There we vacated convictions on two counts because they were multiplicitous. We did not remand for resentencing, however, “[bjecause the sentences for counts 5 and 8 run concurrently with sentences for several other counts, and because nothing in the record suggests that counts 5 and 8 enhanced the sentences on the other counts.” Id. at 1368. Ray suggests that a remand for resentencing is unnecessary unless there is a basis in the record to indicate that enhancement has occurred.
*565The record in this case presents no evidence that the district court was influenced to give a heavier sentence under count IV, which was the more serious violation, because of the conviction under count I. Indeed, the district judge’s sentencing of Soto to consecutive sentences tends to show the contrary: that the district judge considered each count separately.
I fear that any reversal of one count in a multiple count conviction will now automatically be considered to have met the majority’s “may have affected” test. No precedent requires such a result nor should it be adopted. It is counterproductive to the orderly administration of the criminal justice system.
Here, there is no basis in the record to conclude that the district judge gave a greater sentence on count IV due to Soto’s conviction on count I. The majority’s speculation is not an appropriate substitute.