United States v. Huaracha Rodriguez, No. 17-10233 (9th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseThe Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's order granting defendant's motion for a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2), in light of Sentencing Guidelines Amendment 782. The panel clarified that, without an explicit and explicit drug quantity finding by the original sentencing judge, drug quantities in an adopted presentencing report were not binding in section 3582(c)(2) proceedings. Therefore, the panel remanded to the district court for supplemental findings of drug quantity and, if appropriate, resentencing.
Court Description: Criminal Law The panel reversed the district court’s order granting Emilio Huarache Rodriguez’s motion pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) for reduction of sentence in light of Sentencing Guidelines Amendment 782, and remanded for supplemental drug-quantity findings. The panel clarified that, under United States v. Mercado- Moreno, 869 F.3d 942 (9th Cir. 2017), drug quantities in an adopted presentence investigation report, without an explicit and specific drug quantity finding by the original sentencing judge, are not binding in § 3582(c)(2) proceedings. The panel held that because the judge at Rodriguez’s initial sentencing did not make a specific finding of drug quantity, and Rodriguez did not admit to a specific drug quantity beyond the quantity necessary to determine the appropriate Guidelines range, there were no binding drug quantity findings or admissions that bound the district court at the later § 3582(c)(2) proceedings. The panel held that if, as here, the district court at the original sentencing did not make a specific drug quantity finding, the proper course is for the district court to engage in supplemental fact-finding to determine whether the defendant is eligible for a sentence reduction under § 3582(c)(2). The panel therefore remanded to the district
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