United States v. Carmise Matthews

[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
FILED
_____________ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
JAN 21, 2011
No. 10-11410
_____________ JOHN LEY
CLERK
D.C. Docket No. 2:07-cr-00350-IPJ-PWG-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
CARMISE MATTHEWS,
Defendant-Appellant.
____________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Alabama
____________
(January 21, 2011)
Before TJOFLAT, HILL, and ALARCON,* Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
___________________
* Honorable Arthur L. Alarcon, United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit, sitting by
designation.
This is an appeal from a twenty-four month sentence imposed upon Carmise
Matthews by the district court for violating the conditions of his supervised
release. Matthews claims that the district court plainly erred by failing to provide
specific written reasons for his sentence, which exceeds the range suggested by the
Chapter 7 policy statements to the United States Sentencing Guidelines, in his
judgment according to the dictates of the statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(c)(2). We
agree.
The statute reads:
The court, at the time of sentence, shall state in open court the reasons
for its imposition of the particular sentence, and, if the sentence . . . is
not of the kind, or is outside the range, described in subsection (a)(4),
the specific reason for the imposition of a sentence different from that
described, which reasons must also be stated with specificity in the
written order of judgment and commitment . . . .
18 U.S.C. § 3553(c)(2).
We have reviewed the record in this appeal, the briefs and the arguments of
counsel. By failing to provide written reasons for a sentence exceeding the
statutory guidelines, we find that the district court plainly erred by failing to abide
by the terms of the statute. See United States v. Mangaroo, 504 F.3d 1350, 1354
(11th Cir. 2007). We vacate the judgment of the district court and remand to the
district court for the limited purpose of providing a written and specific statement
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of the reasons for its upward departure in Matthews’ sentence pursuant to 18
U.S.C. § 3553(c)(2).
VACATED and REMANDED with instructions.
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