Filed: Sep. 12, 2005
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT _ No. 05-1260 _ United States of America, * * Appellee, * * Appeal from the United States v. * District Court for the * District of Nebraska. Frederick Allen McCormick, * * [UNPUBLISHED] Appellant. * _ Submitted: September 7, 2005 Filed: September 12, 2005 _ Before MELLOY, MAGILL, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges. _ PER CURIAM. Frederick McCormick challenges the sentence imposed by the district court upon his guilty plea to possession of pseudoep
Summary: United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT _ No. 05-1260 _ United States of America, * * Appellee, * * Appeal from the United States v. * District Court for the * District of Nebraska. Frederick Allen McCormick, * * [UNPUBLISHED] Appellant. * _ Submitted: September 7, 2005 Filed: September 12, 2005 _ Before MELLOY, MAGILL, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges. _ PER CURIAM. Frederick McCormick challenges the sentence imposed by the district court upon his guilty plea to possession of pseudoeph..
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United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
___________
No. 05-1260
___________
United States of America, *
*
Appellee, *
* Appeal from the United States
v. * District Court for the
* District of Nebraska.
Frederick Allen McCormick, *
* [UNPUBLISHED]
Appellant. *
___________
Submitted: September 7, 2005
Filed: September 12, 2005
___________
Before MELLOY, MAGILL, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.
___________
PER CURIAM.
Frederick McCormick challenges the sentence imposed by the district court
upon his guilty plea to possession of pseudoephedrine for the purpose of
manufacturing methamphetamine, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2 and 21 U.S.C.
§ 841(c)(2). In a subsequent motion for remand, and on appeal, he argues under
United States v. Booker,
125 S. Ct. 738 (2005), that the district court erred in
sentencing him under a sentencing scheme that is no longer valid.
The district court erred in sentencing McCormick under a mandatory
Guidelines regime, see
Booker, 125 S. Ct. at 756-57, and McCormick sufficiently
preserved the issue at sentencing by challenging his sentencing range under Blakely
v. Washington,
124 S. Ct. 2531 (2004), see United States v. Pirani,
406 F.3d 543, 549
(8th Cir. 2005) (en banc), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. July 27, 2005) (No. 05-5547).
We thus review for harmless error. See United States v. Haidley,
400 F.3d 642, 644-
45 (8th Cir. 2005). The government has the burden to prove that the error was
harmless, and must show that the error did not affect McCormick’s substantial rights
--i.e., that the district court would have imposed the same sentence under advisory
Guidelines. See
id.
We are left with “grave doubt” as to whether the error was harmless:
McCormick was sentenced at the bottom of the Guidelines range, see
id. at 645
(holding not harmless district court’s error in imposing sentence under mandatory
Guidelines regime where court sentenced defendant to bottom of Guidelines range,
even if no Sixth Amendment issue was present), and the government has pointed to
nothing in the record that shows the district court would have imposed the same
sentence under an advisory system. Accordingly, we remand for resentencing, and
we deny the pending motion to remand as moot.
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