Sentencing Guidelines

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Deangelo Anderson

Case No.: 16-3112

Officials: EASTERBROOK, ROVNER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sentencing Guidelines

On September 23, 2014, a grand jury returned a five-count indictment against Deangelo Anderson, charging him in counts one and two with armed robbery of a bank and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence (i.e. the bank robbery), and in counts three, four and five with unlawful possession of a firearm as a felon, possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. He was tried before a jury on April 4 and 5, 2016, and on April 5 the jury returned a verdict acquitting him of counts one and two, and convicting him of counts three, four and five. The district court sentenced him to 96 months’ imprisonment, comprised of 36 months on counts three and four, to be served concurrently, and sixty months on count five, to be served consecutively to the sentence on counts three and four.

Anderson now appeals that conviction and sentence to this court. He argues that he is entitled to a new trial because he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial when the proceedings continued beyond the hours when the courthouse was open. In addition, he contests his sentence, asserting that the district court based his sentence on an erroneous understanding of the law.

There is some ambiguity in the sentencing hearing as to whether the district court nonetheless considered the mandatory sentence in determining its sentence despite its recognition that Roberson controlled, but we cannot be certain that the Roberson holding did not impact the sentence. We therefore order a limited remand so that the district court can determine whether it would have imposed the same sentence on Anderson, knowing that it can consider the mandatory sentence in light of Dean. We shall retain jurisdiction over this appeal pending the district court’s response to our inquiry.

Affirmed in part. Remanded in part.

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