Defendant was entitled to new sentencing hearing, where: (1) defendant was sentenced to 262-month term of incarceration on drug conspiracy charge: (2) record showed that defendant had entered into plea agreement in which parties had agreed not to seek departure from applicable sentencing guideline range; and (3) in spite of said agreement, prosecutor recommended upward departure from applicable 180 to 235-month sentencing range. Fact that defendant did not object in Dist. Ct. to govt.’s proposed upward departure or to govt.’s recommendation of 320-month term of incarceration did not require different result. Moreover, defendant was able to establish prejudice, where govt.’s high proposed sentence may have influenced Dist. Ct. into imposing higher sentence than what it would have imposed if govt. had proposed sentencing within applicable guideline range.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Criminal Court
Guilty Plea