Court Opinion

ID: 9497982
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:05:06.991171+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:32.477706
License: Public Domain

NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and concurring in the judgment:
I am pleased to concur in most of what Judge Widener has written, and I concur in the judgment. My only reservation relates to the standard that we must apply in reviewing Bartram’s sentence.
As Judge Widener points out, Bartram pleaded guilty, and during his sentencing hearing, he admitted to participation in a conspiracy that trafficked in at least 150 grams of crack cocaine. Bartram’s counsel stated at the hearing that Bartram disputed the full extent of the drug amounts attributed to him by witnesses— “there might have been less of — fewer times or more frequent times with lesser amounts of drugs than the amount that Mr. Dixon stated” — but Bartram acknowledged that “overall it still equals over 150 grams.” Based on this amount, Bartram was sentenced to 132 months’ imprisonment. Because Bartram admitted the drug amount, he did not and could not claim a Sixth Amendment violation in not having had a jury determine that fact. Nor did he object to being sentenced under a mandatory Guidelines scheme.
On appeal, Bartram nonetheless challenges his sentence under United States v. Booker, — U.S. -, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), contending that the district court erred by treating the Sentencing Guidelines as a mandatory system for sentencing purposes. Both Judge Widener and I agree that this was error, albeit not a Sixth Amendment error. We depart, however, on the analysis that follows the finding of error. Judge Widener suggests that by reason of Booker we review the sentence imposed for “reasonableness.” Supra at 310. In contrast, I respectfully, suggest, likewise by reason of Booker, that we apply the plain-error doctrine, under which Bartram carries the burden of proof of establishing that the sentencing error affected his substantial rights. Because Bartram did not carry this burden, I would conclude that under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b), we cannot correct the error. See United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625, 631, 122 S.Ct. 1781, 152 L.Ed.2d 860 (2002).
In Booker, the Supreme Court held that the mandatory nature of the Sentencing Guidelines implicated the Sixth Amendment by imposing sentence enhancements based on the sentencing judge’s determination of facts not admitted by the defendant nor proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. See 125 S.Ct. at 746, 756. The Court resolved the problem by invalidating two provisions of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 that made the Sentencing Guidelines mandatory, thus permitting the remainder of the Sentencing Guidelines to operate “in a manner consistent with congressional intent.” Id.; see also id. at 756-57. As the Court explained,
[i]f the guidelines as currently written could be read as merely advisory provisions that recommended, rather than required, the selection of particular sentences in response to differing sets of facts, their use would not implicate the Sixth Amendment. We have never doubted the authority of a judge to exercise broad discretion in imposing a sentence within a statutory range.
*316Id. at 750. Even with this holding, however, a sentencing court remains under an obligation to consider the Guidelines’ ranges, id. at 757, but now it is permitted “to tailor the sentence in light of other statutory concerns” identified in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Id.; see also id. at 767 (“The district courts, while not bound to apply the Guidelines, must consult those Guidelines and take them into account when sentencing”).
With respect to appellate review, the Booker Court invalidated 18 U.S.C. § 3742(e) because that section established a standard of review that was linked to the mandatory nature of the Sentencing Guidelines. 125 S.Ct. at 765. To fill the gap created by the invalidation of § 3742(e), the Court adopted an appellate review standard of “reasonableness,” finding that this standard was implied in the statutory framework that it left standing. Id. at 766. The Court concluded that the adoption of the reasonableness standard for reviewing sentences imposed under the non-mandatory scheme most closely adhered to congressional intent. Id. at 767. The Court noted that the reasonable-ness standard thus should govern review of any resentencings imposed by reason of the Booker holding. Id. at 769. But the court also observed that its holding would not require resentencing in all cases: “[W]e expect reviewing courts to apply ordinary prudential doctrines, determining, for example, whether the issue was raised below and whether it fails the ‘plain-error’ test.” Id.
Because there was no Sixth Amendment violation in this case, our holding in United States v. Hughes, 401 F.3d 540 (4th Cir.2005), does not require resentencing. Rather, our holding in United States v. White, 405 F.3d 208 (4th Cir.2005), is the relevant precedent. In White, the defendant’s sentence was based entirely on facts found by the jury and therefore no Sixth Amendment violation occurred. See 405 F.3d at 215. Nonetheless, we found, as we do here, that an error in sentencing occurred because the defendant was sentenced under a mandatory system. See id. (“Thus, even in the absence of a Sixth Amendment violation, the imposition of a sentence under the former mandatory guidelines regime rather than under the advisory regime outlined in Booker is error”). As such, we reviewed that error under the plain-error test and imposed on the defendant the burden of showing that the error affected his substantial rights. See id. at 223; Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b); United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 734-35, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993); United States v. Williams, 81 F.3d 1321, 1326 (4th Cir.1996). Because the defendant failed to carry his burden, we concluded in White that we could not correct the error on appeal. See White at 224; see also Cotton, 535 U.S. at 631, 122 S.Ct. 1781.
In this case, Bartram likewise did not carry his burden of demonstrating that the sentence imposed under a mandatory sentencing scheme affected his substantial rights. Moreover, Judge Widener’s review of the sentence under a standard of reasonableness clearly demonstrates why Bartram could not sustain such a burden. Applying the plain-error test authorized in Booker for this circumstance, I thus reach the same result reached by Judge Widener, albeit under a different analysis. Accordingly, I concur in our affirmance.
GREGORY, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the judgment:
I concur in the judgment only.