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First Circuit's First Booker Shots

By Tom Lincoln

I had not posted earlier on the First Circuit's first responses to Booker, see US v. Antonakopoulos, No. 03-1384 (1st Cir. Feb. 22, 2005) and US v. Sahlin, No. 04-1324 (1st Cir. Feb. 22, 2005), and much of it had to do with the fact that neither case is good news for defendants.  Sahlin perhaps makes the most sense, as it involves a defendant wanting to withdraw his plea based on Booker, alleging his plea could not have been voluntary, which the Court of Appeals rejected.  In Antonakopoulos the Court really sends its first strong signal on how it will deal with unpreserved Booker claims, and it is bad news. Defendants will not get a remand for resentencing except in extremely rare occasions when, for example, the District Judge expressed at the time of sentencing that he would have imposed a lesser sentence if it were not for the mandatory nature of the guidelines...continue to full post

Full post as published by Puerto Rico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on February 24, 2005 (boomark / email).