Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Decision Remanded in light of Nelson

U.S. v. Covington, 2009 WL 1151330 (4/28/09) (unpub'd) - After a remand from the S. Ct. to reconsider in light of Nelson v. U..S., 129 S. Ct. 890 (2009) (reversal for d. ct. presuming the guideline range to be reasonable), the 10th remands to the d. ct. The d. ct. had said: "the guidelines are still given great weight and we are still bound to basically follow them, except in very unusual circumstances, or we just get reversed." Remarkably, on the first go-round, Judges Tacha and Kelly thought the d. ct. had treated the guidelines as advisory. The soon-to-be-retired Judge McConnell had dissented.