COA Addresses Fed.R.Crim.P. 32's Scope; Affirms that Within-Guidelines Sentence Needs Little Explanation

U.S. v. Cereceres-Zavala, --- F.3d ----, 2007 WL 2421755 (10th Cir. August 28, 2007)

The 10th discusses the parameters of the present Criminal Procedure Rule 32. The rule does not broaden the scope of objections to a PSR that require the district court to respond by making findings and attaching them to the PSR–only objections to factual inaccuracies require this kind of response by the court, not legal objections. Here, D challenged the determination that his prior Texas conviction was for a crime of violence–that was a legal determination. Also, for a within guidelines sentence, the district court need give only a general explanation of its reasons for imposing the sentence to comply with procedural reasonableness.