United States v. Benitez, No. 14-40046 (5th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseDefendants Benitez, Navarro, and Casas appealed their convictions for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute controlled substances and related charges. The court affirmed the convictions and affirmed all of the sentences except for Casas'. The court held that the district court incorrectly applied a mandatory minimum sentence. In this case, the district court erroneously viewed the statutory minimum sentence to be life, and sentenced Casas accordingly. Consequently, this mistaken belief about the mandatory minimum likely affected the outcome of the district court's proceedings. Because the error significantly increased Casas' term of imprisonment and thus risks seriously affecting the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings, the court vacated Casas' sentence and remanded for resentencing.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on December 17, 2015.
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