Court Error – Sentencing

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Christopher Saunders and Rashid Bounds

Case No.: 13-3863, 13-3910

Officials: EASTERBROOK, MANION, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges

Focus: Court Error – Sentencing

Court failure to disclose basis of expert’s opinion was harmless error.

“While the defendants analogize this case to Claybrooks, where we reversed the district court’s drug quantity finding, Claybrooks is distinguishable. In Claybrooks, the district court rejected the methodology used in the Presentence Investigation Report to arrive at a drug finding, but did not indicate another basis for arriving at its number. Id. at 707. Here, while the court was initially skeptical about the government’s ratio, it was presented with additional argument as to why the ratio was accurate and ultimately accepted the ratio as reliable. The district court did not calculate 3.69 kilograms because it was “split[ting] the difference” between the government’s theory and the jury’s verdict, or selecting a number that was in the middle simply for the sake of compromise. Cf. Claybrooks, 729 F.3d at 707; United States v. Dean, 574 F.3d 836, 845 (7th Cir. 2009). Instead, it based its calculation on the proposed ratio and the actual number of recovered Dormin bottles. Its responses provide enough for us to discern the reliable evidence that it used to make its calculation and we will not reverse under these circumstances. ”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.