U.S. v. Navarro

Defendant was entitled to new sentence hearing on drug distribution charge, where record showed that govt. had breached plea agreement requiring it to refrain from seeking departure from sentencing guideline and to recommend sentence within applicable Guideline range as determined by Dist. Ct. Record showed that after Dist. Ct. determined Guideline range to be188 to 235 months, govt. argued in favor of upward departure and recommended 320-month term of incarceration. Ct. rejected govt. claim that there was subtle difference between seeking enhancement and seeking sentence departure and found that instant 320-month recommendation by govt. required remand for new sentence hearing. Ct. also rejected govt. claim that defendant could not show prejudice, after noting that record did not compellingly demonstrate that instant recommendation played no role in ultimate sentence.