United States v. Reyna

W. EUGENE DAVIS, Circuit Judge:

We took this case en banc to consider whether the district court’s failure to give the defendant an opportunity to allocute as required by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32 is subject to either harmless error or plain error review. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that, in the absence of an objection by the defendant, such a failure is subject to plain error review.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

The panel, in United States v. Reyna, 331 F.3d 448 (5th Cir.2003), gave a cogent statement of the facts and background which we reproduce below:

Miguel Enrique Reyna…