Friday, August 12, 2016

US v. Herrera-Rivera, No. 15-50141 (8-12-16)(Silverman w/Tashima; Graber partial dissent).  The 9th affirmed the possession with intent to distribute conviction, but found plain error in adjusting for obstruction of justice.   At sentencing, in assessing an obstruction enhancement, the district court found that the defendant's testimony was "tenuous" at best.  The court though had to, in addition, explicitly find that the testimony was willful and material.  It failed to do so.  This affected the defendant's substantive right, even if the court had varied downward.  Graber, dissenting, believes there was no plain error on the record.

The decision is here:

http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2016/08/12/15-50141.pdf

1 Comments:

Anonymous Adam said...

Thanks for the info! I would like to read it.

Friday, August 12, 2016 10:00:00 PM  

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