Summary Summary

A few more summary orders of interest from earlier this month:

In United States v. Nunez-Gonzalez, No. 05-4064-cr (2d Cir. October 10, 2008), the court remanded for resentencing where a “review of the record leaves us uncertain as to whether the District Court fully considered the sizeable disparity between the sentences of” the defendant and his co-defendant.

In United States v. Mercardo, No. 07-3327-cr (2d Cir. October 7, 2008), the defendant in a drug case argued that he was prejudiced by testimony of an agent who explained that he investigated “violent crimes associated with narcotics use.” The court “caution[ed]” the government about “unnecessarily eliciting testimony about agents’ responsibilities not relevant to the charged crime,” but found the error to be harmless. In addition, the court granted a Regalado remand, even though the defendant was sentenced as a career offender, since it was unclear whether the district court fully understood its departure authority.