United States v. Fleming

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Fleming pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), stipulating that his base offense level would be 24, based on his possession of at least 500 grams but less than 2 kilograms of cocaine. The United States Sentencing Guidelines recommended a sentence of 60 months’ imprisonment. At his sentencing hearing, the district court doubled that, based in large part on a brief local news article that described a recent surge in drug overdose deaths, mostly due to powerful opioids like fentanyl. Neither the article, nor the underlying Ohio state report on which it was based, were provided to the parties before the sentencing hearing. Nor was Fleming notified before the hearing that the court planned to consider the article or the issues it addressed. The Sixth Circuit vacated the sentence as procedurally unreasonable because the court denied Fleming a meaningful opportunity to comment on information that led to a substantial increase in his sentence. View "United States v. Fleming" on Justia Law