Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Sentence Consecutive to Any Future Federal Sentence Error, But Not Plain

US v. Obey: Obey was initially convicted of multiple drug counts and sentenced to 540 months in prison. His convictions were vacated on Giglio grounds and, on remand, he entered into a plea agreement. He agreed to plead guilty to a single count with a 20-year statutory maximum and the Government would argue for a sentence of 18 years. Sentencing came and the Government argued for an 18-year sentence. However, the Government (in response to the district court's questions) advised the court about Obey's pending state murder trial, confirmed that he was a career offender, but reiterated the 18-year recommendation. The district court denied the Government's "request for a variance" (it's unclear what the actual Guideline range was) and sentenced Obey to 240 months in prison, to be served consecutively to any other sentence, including any federal or state sentence he might receive.

The Fourth Circuit affirmed Obey's sentence on appeal. First, it rejected (reviewing for plain error) his argument that the Government breached its promise in the plea agreement by not being more forceful in its assertion of the 18-year recommendation or by providing sufficient reasons as to why that sentence was appropriate. The court concluded that the Government repeatedly restated its recommendation, did not criticize or undermined that recommendation, and that the plea agreement didn't call for the Government to do any more than make the recommendation. Second, it rejected the argument that the district court erred by ordering Obey's sentence to be served consecutively to any future state or federal sentence. The court concluded that the Supreme Court's holding in Setser that allowed sentences to be consecutive to future state sentences did not extend to future federal sentences as well (per prior Fourth Circuit precedent). However, Obey was stuck with review for plain error and the court found, in light of Setser, that the district court's error was not "plain."

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