United States v. Rakhmatov, No. 21-151 (2d Cir. 2022)
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Defendant challenged the sentence imposed following his guilty plea for conspiring to support a terrorist group and the denial of his Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(a) motion to correct the sentence. The Second Circuit addressed whether the Rule 35(a) motion is barred by the appeal waiver in his plea agreement. Defendant argued that the district court erred in denying his motion to correct its alleged sentencing errors.
The Second Circuit dismissed Defendant’s appeal. The court explained that in this case, Defendant did not identify any arithmetical, technical, or similar errors with the sentence. Instead, he alleged that the district court failed to properly apply the sentencing factors and failed to adequately consider his objections, resulting in a prison term that was “unreasonable, cruel and unusual, . . . and greater than necessary to accomplish [its] purpose.” The motion’s arguments thus plainly fall outside of Rule 35(a)’s “very narrow” scope. Instead of filing a genuine Rule 35(a) motion, Defendant simply stated his objections to the district court’s sentence. The terms of this appeal waiver plainly bar consideration of the motion. Defendant’s arguments are plainly beyond the scope of Rule 35(a) and thus are barred by his appeal waiver.
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