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18-year Sentence Reversed By Divided Panel

By Shari Allison

U.S. v. Lente, 2009 WL 1143167 (4/29/09) (unpub'd) - Reversal of 18-year sentence for 3 involuntary manslaughter convictions and one conviction for assault, for DWI, cross-the-center-line, crash. A majority did not agree on a rationale for the decision. In one paragraph, Judge Hartz rules that the government breached the plea agreement by endorsing a PSR recommendation of an upward variance for failure to accept responsibility when it had stipulated to a three-level acceptance of responsibility reduction. For the sake of resolving what to do next, Judge Holmes goes along with the usual plea-breach remedy of remanding to a different judge. But Holmes apparently does not agree with the plea breach rationale. In a 41 page opinion he finds the upward variance from 46 to 57 months to 216 months was substantively unreasonable...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on May 06, 2009 (boomark / email).