United States v. Ellis, No. 09-50652 (9th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his sentence for seven counts of bank robbery. Defendant argued that his sentence must be vacated and the case remanded for resentencing because the government breached the plea agreement; the district court's decision to make an upward departure from criminal history category II to III, U.S.S.G. 4A1.3, was procedurally erroneous; and the district court's overall sentence was substantially unreasonable. The court held that the government did not breach the plea agreement where it made no argument that the district court should increase the offense level calculation set forth in the presentence report ("PSR") and plea agreement. The court also held that the court reviewed upward departures under section 4A1.3 for substantive reasonableness, not for procedural error, and concluded that the district court's sentence was substantively reasonable and procedural error was harmless where the district court deviated only 30 and 16 months from the high end of the PSR and its own Guidelines ranges and where the district court's characterization of defendant's seven armed robberies as serious offenses reflected a rational and meaningful consideration of the factors enumerated in 18 U.S.C. 3553(a).
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.