United States v. Ochoa, No. 14-10124 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his two-year sentence for violating his supervised release conditions. The court held, consistent with the rule adopted by other circuits, that “a sentence is not final—and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 35(a) does not apply—when there is no formal break in the proceedings from which to logically and reasonably conclude that sentencing had finished. . . .” In this case, the court held that the district court’s initial, twelve-month-and-a-day sentence was not a binding sentence within the meaning of Rule 35. Accordingly, neither 18 U.S.C. 3582(c) nor Rule 35 deprived the district court of jurisdiction to alter defendant's sentence due to his apparently disrespectful conduct during the ongoing sentencing hearing. The court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Criminal Law. Affirming a two-year sentence imposed following violations of supervised release, the panel held that Fed. R. Crim. P. 35 was not intended to deprive the district court of jurisdiction to alter a sentence during the course of the same hearing. The panel held that a sentence is not final—and Rule 35(a) does not apply—when there is no formal break in the proceedings from which to logically and reasonably conclude that sentencing had finished; that the district court’s initial twelve-month-and-a-day sentence was not a binding sentence within the meaning of Rule 35; and that neither 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c) nor Rule 35 deprived the district court of jurisdiction to alter the defendant’s sentence due to the defendant’s apparently disrespectful conduct during the ongoing sentencing hearing. Dissenting, Chief District Judge Navarro wrote that the majority’s ruling, defying the unambiguous language of Rule 35 and the express limitation of § 3582(c), upholds the draconian decision of the sentencing court to suddenly double the term of incarceration initially pronounced based solely on a perception that the defendant was laughing at the court. UNITED STATES V. OCHOA 3
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