Proper Amount of Restitution Fell Within Scope of Appeal Waiver

US v. Taylor-Sanders: Taylor-Sanders was charged with multiple counts of wire fraud and identity theft. She pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, pursuant to a plea agreement in which she waived “all rights to contest the conviction and sentence in any appeal” on grounds other than ineffective assistance of counsel or prosecutorial misconduct. She later moved to withdraw her plea, arguing that she was told she had no choice but to plead guilty and her plea was not voluntary. The district court denied her request finding her “not credible.” She was sentenced to 66 months in prison and ordered to restitution of more than $700,000.

On appeal, Taylor-Sanders sought review of several issues, including the amount of restitution imposed as part of her sentence. On that issue, Taylor-Sanders argued that because the restitution amount included amounts not covered by the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act the restitution as awarded exceeded the scope of the district court’s authority and, therefore, was not covered by the appeal waiver. The court disagreed, noting the distinction between where a district court lacks the legal authority to award restitution and where it makes a legal error as to the amount of restitution owed. The later error is covered by broad appeal waivers, like the one in this case.