United States v. Thomas, No. 15-1731 (7th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendant contested the sentencing procedure the judge used after he pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to distribute and was sentenced to 235 months’ imprisonment. The district judge arrived at the sentence after a multi-step process involving, as relevant in this appeal, Step 3 (holding a telephonic conference to discuss how to proceed) and Step 5 (two days after the telephonic conference - and a week before the date set for sentencing - the district court issued a short opinion that both summarized the extent of consensus at the conference and tentatively approved defendant’s request for a below-Guideline sentence). Defendant contends that Steps 3 and 5 violate the Due Process Clause, principally because he was not present during these stages. The court rejected defendant's arguments and concluded that the procedure the district judge used gave defendant more notice than required and more opportunities to be heard than required. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
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