United States v. Chavez-Perez, No. 16-40164 (5th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of illegal reentry and sentenced to 85 months in prison. On appeal, defendant argued that the district court plainly erred by denying him the opportunity to allocute before sentencing. The court concluded that the district court erred in failing to give defendant an allocution opportunity and the error affected defendant's substantial rights. While the court ordinarily remands for resentencing, the court has declined to adopt a blanket rule that once prejudice is found, the error invariably requires correction. In this case, defendant's proffered statements fail to demonstrate an “objective basis” that would have moved the court to grant a lower sentence, and the statements defendant offers on appeal are unlikely to have moved the district court to impose a lower sentence because, in calculating defendant's sentence, the district court gave significant, if not decisive, weight to his repetitive history of violent crime. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
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