Court Opinion

ID: 9483698
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:29:29.533368+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:47.796986
License: Public Domain

SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
While I otherwise join the majority opinion in this case, I am unable to concur in Part IIIA. Easter contends that the government improperly withheld a motion to reduce his sentence under section 5K1.1 in retaliation for the exercise of his constitutional right to a jury trial. While recognizing that Easter’s assertion, if true, would state a claim for relief, the majority nonetheless refuses to consider it, citing United States v. Saucedo, 950 F.2d 1508, 1518 (10th Cir.1991).
In my view, this case is distinguishable from Saucedo. The holding upon which the majority relies was addressed only to “[a] factual dispute concerning the applicability of a particular guideline,” id., an issue which does not raise the possibility of the deprivation of a constitutional right. Here to the contrary, Easter alleges that the government withheld a section 5K1.1 motion for a constitutionally impermissible reason, the exercise of his right to a jury trial. As stated in both the majority opinion and in Saucedo, we apply the plain error rule less rigidly when reviewing a potential constitutional error. See 950 F.2d at 1511.
Instead of being controlled by Saucedo, therefore, I believe the instant case falls under our holding in United States v. Cheama, 783 F.2d 165 (10th Cir.1986), in which we addressed a fact-dependent constitutional challenge raised for the first time on appeal. Rather than refuse review of a serious constitutional deprivation for lack of an adequate record, we remanded for further development of the facts.
Similarly, I would remand for a limited hearing on Easter’s claim that the government’s refusal to make a section 5K1.1 reduction was in retaliation for his decision to seek a jury trial. From the facts recited in the majority opinion, it appears that Easter cooperated in much the same way as Alexander, played a role in leading authorities to Piggee, the drug source, and was no more culpable than either Alexander or Kirksey. These facts are enough in my view to raise an inference that the government’s failure to move to reduce Easter’s sentence based on his cooperation was in retaliation for Easter’s decision to go to trial. In addition, the other participants, all of whom pled, allegedly received *1560sentences ranging from six months to five years. Easter, who was nineteen and had no prior criminal history, went to trial and received a sentence of almost twenty years. Under Cheama, I believe these circumstances warrant a remand on this issue.
I am troubled by the majority’s refusal to address the merits of only one of three issues raised for the first time on appeal, despite conceding that the claim raises a valid constitutional issue. In contrast, the majority elects to consider the two other claims raised for the first time on appeal and rejects them on the merits. Because the majority’s decision to pick and choose among these claims is not supported by the authority upon which it relies, and because other authority supports hearing this claim, I must respectfully dissent.