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Third Circuit Holds that Alternative Sentence Under § 3553(a) Renders Potential Guidelines Error ?Harmless?

By Douglas A. Berman

Monday, in United States v. Santiago-Bautista, available here, the Third Circuit effectively allowed a sentencing court to insulate itself from appeal by holding that any error in calculating the guidelines was rendered harmless by the district court?s articulation of an alternative, equivalent sentence under § 3553(a).  The defendant, Mario Santiago-Bautista, had been convicted of illegal reentry following deportation.  At sentencing, the district court concluded, over Santiago-Bautista's objection, that a prior state conviction for possession of a weapon was an ?aggravated felony? for sentencing purposes, and thus raised his base offense level by several levels.  But the district court explained that even if it erred in concluding that the weapon offense was an aggravated felony, it would impose the same sentence in an exercise of its § 3553(a) discretion...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 06, 2008 (boomark / email).