United States v. Hebron, No. 11-30513 (5th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseDefendant, mayor of Ball, Louisiana, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with major disaster benefits in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371 and 1040. On appeal, defendant argued that the government violated the plea agreement by advocating for a higher loss calculation than the one agreed to and that the district court erred in its loss calculation by including legitimate claims with fraudulent ones. The court held that the breach of the plea agreement likely did not affect the sentence so defendant's substantial rights were not affected and, as a result, the district court did not plainly err. Even if the error affected defendant's substantial rights, the court declined to exercise its discretion to require resentencing. The court also held that the district court committed no error by including the entire amount requested from FEMA after Hurricane Gustav, as well as a small portion requested after Hurricane Rita, as intended loss.
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