Court Opinion

ID: 9479869
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:30:54.852194+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:19.565903
License: Public Domain

EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I write separately to emphasize that our decision, that “Rule 11-like criteria” be used to establish a more serious unindicted offense for purposes of Guidelines Sentences involving section lB1.2(a), should not be viewed as a new imposition upon the district court’s already complex sentencing responsibility. Our theme is rather that a defendant should not risk receiving a sentence for a crime he did not commit. The Guidelines explicitly balance that goal against the equally important goal of sentencing according to the “real offense.” Section IB 1.2(a) applies only when a plea of guilty of nolo contendere contains “a stipulation that specifically establishes a more serious offense ...” than that of conviction. Thus, as we held recently, to sentence based on the unindicted offense under section lB1.2(a), the court will rely on “stipulated facts sworn to by the defendant in open court” in connection with the guilty plea. United States v. Strong, 891 F.2d 82 (5th Cir.1989). The sentence yielded by this method may not exceed the statutory maximum for the offense of conviction. Guidelines sections 5G1.1 et seq.; Strong, 891 F.2d 82; United States v. Garza, 884 F.2d 181, 183 (5th Cir.1989). “Within those limits, there is no per se rule against consideration of criminal activity not charged in the indictment.” Strong, 891 F.2d 82, citing United States v. Taplette, 872 F.2d 101, 106 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. *77-, 110 S.Ct. 128, 107 L.Ed.2d 88 (1989);1 United States v. Thomas, 870 F.2d 174, 176 (5th Cir.1989); United States v. Sarasti, 869 F.2d 805, 806-07 (5th Cir.1989).

. Strong squarely rejected a due process challenge that section IB 1.2 effectively sentences a defendant for a crime of which he has not been convicted.