United States v. Yamashiro, No. 12-50608 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseDefendant, a registered investment advisor and securities agent, appealed his conviction and sentence for wire fraud and money laundering. Defendant's conviction stemmed from his involvement in a scheme to defraud his clients. The court concluded that defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated by the district court’s decision to proceed with victim allocution in the absence of trial counsel during a portion of defendant’s critical sentencing stage. The court concluded that the denial of counsel during a portion of the allocution phase of the sentencing proceeding was structural error, that the error was complete when the right to counsel was denied, and that no additional showing of prejudice was required. The court also concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Because the trial court committed structural error by proceeding with victim allocution while defense counsel was not present, and because the victim’s statements were highly significant in the judge’s sentencing consideration, reassignment to a different district judge is advisable to preserve the appearance of justice. Accordingly, the court affirmed the conviction, vacated the sentence, and remanded for resentencing.
Court Description: Criminal Law. The panel affirmed a conviction for wire fraud and money laundering, vacated the sentence, and remanded for resentencing before a different judge. The panel held that the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated by the district court’s decision to proceed with victim allocution in the absence of trial counsel during a portion of the defendant’s critical sentencing stage. The panel held that the denial of counsel was structural error, that the error was complete when the right to counsel was denied, and that no additional showing of prejudice was required. The panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the defendant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea. The panel concluded that reassignment to a different judge for resentencing is advisable to preserve the appearance of justice because the trial court committed structural error by proceeding with victim allocution while defense counsel was not present, and because the victim’s statements were highly significant in the judge’s sentencing consideration. Concurring in part and dissenting in part, Judge Bea agreed with the majority that the denial of the defendant’s UNITED STATES V. YAMASHIRO 3 motion to withdraw his guilty plea should be affirmed, but disagreed that the district court committed plain error when it permitted one victim to allocute without the defendant’s preferred counsel present.
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