By: Derek Hawkins//August 10, 2015//
Criminal
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Officials: POSNER, KANNE, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges
Sentence Pronounced Orally
Nos. 14-1243; 14-1420 United States of America v. Jose Miguel Medina-Mora
Judge’s denial of appellants Rule 36 motion to correct judgment reversed where written judgment failed to accurately reflect the oral judgment originally pronounced.
“In considering defendant’s motion to correct the clerical error in the written judgment, the district court erred by considering its original intentions and concluding that its use of the word “concurrent” was an “error.” Under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(a), the district court lost any power it may have had to correct an “arithmetical, technical, or other clear error” in the sentence fourteen days after pronouncing sentence. At least after that time, the judge’s subjective intentions no longer mattered and could not justify the refusal to correct the clerical error. See Becker, 36 F.3d 708, 711 (7th Cir. 1994); United States v. Werber, 51 F.3d 342, 347 (2d Cir. 1995); Villano, 816 F.2d at 1451.”
Reversed