Archive | Uncategorized

Here’s the latest crop:

In United States v. Ramirez, No. 08-2771 (2d Cir. April 1, 2009), the district court committed a procedural sentencing error in the defendant’s favor by refusing to calculate the applicable Guideline range based on the actual drug quantity and instead deferring to the jury’s finding that less than 500 grams of cocaine was attributable to the defendant. But the circuit found that the error was harmless since there was no doubt that the district court would have imposed the same sentence absent the error.

In United States v. Soto, No. 08-0654-cr (2c Cir. March 25, 2009), two defendants challenged their lengthy sentences on various procedural grounds. The circuit affirmed, but “pause[d] … to note the striking size of the discrepancies between the sentences estimated at the time of the … pleas and those that were imposed.” The court agreed that it was “understandable if they came …

So far, there have been three summary orders of note in March. Let’s take a look.

In United States v. Alkhabbaz, No. 07-4679-cr (2d Cir. March 23, 2009), the defendant was convicted of fraud and money laundering offenses. The circuit held that it was error to impose a sentence enhancement for using a minor, since the use of the minor was in connection with the underlying fraud, not the money laundering offense itself. The court also strongly suggested that the government could not seek to correct on remand a sentencing error in the defendant’s favor that it did not appeal in the first instance.

In United States v. Madoff, No. 09-1025-cr (2d Cir. March 20, 2009), the court affirmed the denial of bail pending sentencing. The court agreed that Madoff posed a risk of flight since his age and exposure to a long prison sentence gave him an incentive to …