Federal Judiciary

United States v. Hossain, No. 08-3805-cr (2d Cir. June 24, 2009)

Hossain complained about procedural error in his sentencing hearing -- specifically, the district court "erred by not calculating and identifying the applicable Sentencing Guidelines range and by failing to state the reasons for his sentence in open court."  The Second Circuit agreed that the district court's "sparse statements at the sentencing hearing and subsequent adoption of two different PSR addenda (and accordingly two different Guidelines ranges) in two separate Statements of Reasons, constitute unreasonable procedural error."  This "lack of clarity unduly frustrates the purposes of § 3553(c) -- to inform the defendant, the public, and relevant prison/probation officers of the reasons for imposition of a particular sentence and to permit meaningful appellate review." 

One final note: The sentence was obviously vacated and remanded for resentencing.  But the Second Circuit denied Hossain's request that it be assigned to a different judge.  Specifically, it found that "reassignment is not necessary in the circumstances presented, either for reasons of bias or to preserve to appearance of fairness."