BEAM, Circuit Judge.
Gilberto Lara-Ruiz appeals his sentence. Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we remand to the district court for resentencing.
On October 10, 2012, pursuant to United States v. Lara-Ruiz, 681 F.3d 914 (8th Cir.2012) (Lara-Ruiz II),
After the trial, the jury found Lara-Ruiz "guilty of the crime of use of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime."
Lara-Ruiz now appeals his sentence, raising numerous issues regarding the procedural and substantive reasonableness of his sentence. Lara-Ruiz also asserts that the amended judgment is unconstitutionally ambiguous. Given the recent holding of the United States Supreme Court in Alleyne v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 2151, ___ L.Ed.2d ___ (2013), we remand this case for resentencing.
While this case was pending before us on appeal, the Court in Alleyne, overruled Harris v. United States, 536 U.S. 545, 122 S.Ct. 2406, 153 L.Ed.2d 524 (2002), and concluded that:
133 S.Ct. at 2155 (citation omitted). Thus, we must determine whether the holding in Alleyne requires that we remand this case for resentencing as inconsistent with the jury's verdict. See id. at 2164.
In Alleyne, the Court addressed Allen Ryan Alleyne's conviction. The jury verdict indicated that Alleyne had "used or carried a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, but did not indicate a finding that the firearm was brandished." Id. at 2156 (alterations and internal quotations omitted). Alleyne's presentence report recommend a seven-year minimum sentence on the § 924(c) count for brandishing a firearm, in accordance with § 924(c)(1)(A)(ii). Id. And, the district court sentenced Alleyne to seven years' imprisonment, despite his objection that "raising his mandatory minimum sentence based on a sentencing judge's finding that he brandished a firearm" violated his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. Id. The Fourth Circuit affirmed, noting that Alleyne's argument was foreclosed by Harris. Id. The Supreme Court ultimately overruled Harris, noting it could not be reconciled with Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Id. at 2158. In doing so, the Court recognized that Apprendi both "concluded that any `facts that increase the prescribed range of penalties to which a criminal defendant is exposed' are elements of the crime" and held that the "Sixth Amendment provides defendants
Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides for harmless error and plain error review by an appellate court. Fed.R.Crim.P. 52. The Court in Alleyne did not state that either plain error or harmless error should be applied by reviewing courts. See 133 S.Ct. 2151. The Supreme Court, however, has recognized that "most constitutional errors can be harmless," unless the error is a "structural" error that warrants automatic reversal. Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1, 8, 119 S.Ct. 1827, 144 L.Ed.2d 35 (1999) (quotation omitted). Structural error appears in only a very limited class of cases. Id. (citing the limited cases in which the Court has recognized a structural error). This circuit has held that Apprendi errors do not create structural error that would require per se reversal. United States v. Anderson, 236 F.3d 427, 429 (8th Cir.2001) (per curiam). Given this background, and considering that Alleyne was decided to reconcile statutory minimums with the Court's reasoning in Apprendi, see Alleyne, 133 S.Ct. at 2158, it follows that review pursuant to Rule 52's standards should be applied to this case.
The government urges us to apply plain error review, alleging that Lara-Ruiz did not preserve the particular error contemplated in Alleyne at his initial sentencing. At resentencing, however, the government, raised the fact that Alleyne was pending before the Supreme Court. But, Lara-Ruiz's counsel did not brief this issue in his resentencing memorandum, nor did he specifically advocate at resentencing that a seven-year mandatory minimum could not be imposed given the jury's findings.
Before we grant relief on plain error review, there must be an "(1) `error,' (2) that is `plain,' and (3) that `affects substantial rights.'" Johnson v. United States, 520 U.S. 461, 467, 117 S.Ct. 1544, 137 L.Ed.2d 718 (1997) (alteration omitted) (quoting United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 732, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993)). Once all three conditions are met, we may only reverse if the error "seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings." Id. (alteration and quotations omitted).
Looking to the third plain error factor, "[a] defendant's rights are substantially affected when the error prejudicially influenced the outcome of the district court proceedings." Maynie, 257 F.3d at 919 (internal quotation omitted). Lara-Ruiz's rights were substantially affected because he was sentenced for a statutory crime different from that which the jury found him guilty. The Court in Alleyne pointed out that "because the fact of brandishing aggravates the legally prescribed range of allowable sentences, it constitutes an element of a separate, aggravated offense that must be found by the jury, regardless of what sentence the defendant might have received if a different range had been applicable." Alleyne, 133 S.Ct. at 2162. The Court went on to explain that if the "judge were to find a fact that increased the statutory maximum sentence, such a finding would violate the Sixth Amendment, even if the defendant ultimately received a sentence falling within the original sentencing range." Id. Here, however, the sentencing court expressly stated that even if the five-year mandatory minimum was applied, the court would have weighed the § 3553(a) factors in a similar manner and the ultimate sentence would be the same. Regardless of this statement, Lara-Ruiz was, as earlier noted, sentenced for a crime which he did not commit according to the jury. As a result, the court used a sentencing range that was not applicable to the crime of conviction. As Justice Thomas, writing for the majority, insisted, such an increase "aggravate[s] the punishment" and "[e]levating the low-end of a sentencing range heightens the loss of liberty associated with the crime." Id. at 2161. By elevating the low-end of the sentencing range, "the defendant's expected punishment has increased as a result of the narrowed range and the prosecution is empowered, by invoking the mandatory minimum, to require the judge to impose a higher punishment than he might wish." Id. (internal quotations omitted). Accordingly, Lara-Ruiz's rights were substantially affected by the court's sentence.
Finally, having establishing all three conditions within our plain error review,
Our conclusion in Maynie controls our reasoning here. See 257 F.3d at 920-21. In Maynie, we remanded a case for resentencing where the drug quantity was not alleged in the indictment or submitted to the jury, but was nonetheless used to increase the penalty for the crime of conviction, in violation of Apprendi. Id. at 918-21. We determined that the case involved "the government's failure to charge an element of the offense in the indictment, and the district court's imposition of a sentence which both exceed[ed] the crime charged by the government and exceed[ed] the punishment authorized for the offense of conviction," distinguishing it from Johnson.
Here, as in Maynie, Lara-Ruiz was not charged with brandishing a firearm although concededly Harris, at the time, made this error less cognizable. Rather, the indictment simply charged him with use and discharge under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii). And, the jury convicted Lara-Ruiz of using a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. Nothing more. So, as earlier noted, neither the indictment nor the jury verdict referenced brandishing a firearm. See Maynie, 257 F.3d at 920-21 ("Unless we recognize and correct the error during this direct appeal, we will have permitted the government to imprison the defendants for a crime for which they have not received the notice and grand jury protections to which they were entitled under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments."). We recognize that the indicted crime, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii), carried a greater mandatory minimum giving Lara-Ruiz notice of the potential punishment, but given the holding in Alleyne, that "facts that increase the mandatory minimum sentences... must be submitted to the jury," we find plain error and remand this case for resentencing. 133 S.Ct. at 2158.
Also in this appeal, Lara-Ruiz advances multiple arguments addressing the procedural and substantive reasonableness of his imposed sentence and challenges the district court's amendment of the judgment, pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 36. Because Lara-Ruiz must be resentenced in accordance with the jury's verdict, we need not address those arguments here.
For these reasons we remand this case for resentencing consistent with the jury's
WOLLMAN, Judge, concurring and dissenting.
I agree that in light of the holding in Alleyne, the district court committed plain error in finding that Lara-Ruiz had brandished the firearm. As the majority opinion points out, however, the district court expressly stated that the ultimate sentence would be the same even if it had determined that only the five-year mandatory minimum applied. Accordingly, I would affirm the sentence under the harmless error doctrine. See, e.g., U.S. v. Grimes, 702 F.3d 460, 470 (8th Cir.2012); U.S. v. Miller, 557 F.3d 910, 916-17 (8th Cir. 2009); and U.S. v. Pirani, 406 F.3d 543, 552-53 (8th Cir.2005) (en banc).
If on remand the district court imposed a lesser sentence, I will be quick to acknowledge my error in not concurring fully in the majority opinion.