United States v. Moreland

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND STATEMENT OF REASONS

JOSEPH R. GOODWIN, Chief Judge.

I. Background

In 2005, the Supreme Court determined that the mandatory Sentencing Guidelines regime violated the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial and remedied this violation by excising the two provisions of the Sentencing Reform Act that made the Guidelines mandatory, thus rendering them advisory. United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 232-36, 258-63, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005). In the wake of Booker, this court and many other district courts struggled to understand the bounds of their newfound…