Breach of Plea Agreement

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Lisa A. Lewis

Case No.: 16-1401

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and KANNE and HAMILTON, Cir‐ cuit Judges.

Focus: Breach of Plea Agreement

Over a seven‐year period, Lisa A. Lewis embezzled more than $2 million from twelve people who were 75 to 92 years old. Pursuant to a plea agreement, she pled guilty to one count of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, and the government agreed to a specific sentencing guidelines calculation. The government also agreed to recommend no more than ten years’ imprisonment at her sentencing hearing.

At the first sentencing hearing, the district court sentenced Lewis to fifteen years’ imprisonment. Shortly thereafter, we decided United States v. Thompson, 777 F.3d 368 (7th Cir. 2015). Lewis appealed raising only the issue of her supervised‐re‐ lease conditions. In light of Thompson, we remanded for resentencing. Before the resentencing hearing, Lewis filed a motion arguing for the first time that the government had breached the plea agreement. The district court denied the motion and held that Lewis had waived this argument by failing to raise it at the first sentencing or on the first appeal. The district court then sentenced Lewis to the same fifteen‐year term.

On appeal, Lewis now argues that she did not waive her argument that the government breached the plea agreement. She reasserts that argument now. Lewis also argues that the district court erred at sentencing by (1) applying a sentencing enhancement based on the vulnerability of her victims and (2) imposing a substantively unreasonable sentence.

We hold that the district court did not err by refusing to hear Lewis’s argument, but it did err by not affirmatively acknowledging that it had the authority to do so. But because the district court alternatively rejected that argument, and because we believe that the argument is meritless, we hold that the district court’s error is harmless. Finally, we hold that the district court did not err at sentencing because the vulnerable‐ victim enhancement was properly applied and the district court’s sentence was substantively reasonable.

Affirmed

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