10th Expresses Preference for De Novo Sentencing Following Remand

U.S. v. Brown, 2007 WL 64852 (1/11/07)(unpub'd) - The 10th expresses a strong preference for de novo resentencing upon remand from the 10th unless the mandate is extremely restrictive. The d.ct. was wrong when it said it refused to conduct de novo resentencing, but it actually considered matters outside of the particular reason the case was remanded. So, no harm. It was okay to give criminal history points for a state court drug conviction, even though the drugs were possessed simultaneously with the defendant's possession of the firearms, which were the subject of the federal case. It was also okay, even though the defendant was also convicted in federal court of carrying a firearm in relation to the state drug offense, because that conviction resulted in a mandatory minimum consecutive sentence, uninvolved in the guideline calculation.