United States v. Lopez-Pastrana

The First Circuit remanded Appellant’s case for resentencing, holding that the district court erred by ordering a twelve-month term of home detention as part of Appellant’s sentence.Appellant was convicted, pursuant to a plea agreement, and sentenced on drug and firearms charges. On appeal, Appellant argued, among other things, that the district court improperly ordered a twelve-month term of home detention on the drug count, to be served after his mandatory minimum five-year term of imprisonment on the firearms count. The First Circuit agreed, holding (1) the appellate waiver provision in Appellant’s plea agreement may not be construed to bar his challenge to his term of home confinement where the term was twice as long as the high end of the applicable imprisonment range and the parties had recommended a sentence at the low end of the range; and (2) the twelve-month term of home confinement was an unjustified variance from the applicable guidelines range of zero-to-six months’ imprisonment. View "United States v. Lopez-Pastrana" on Justia Law