No. 24-6657

Leopoldo Villareal v. United States

Lower Court: Fifth Circuit
Docketed: 2025-02-26
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP Experienced Counsel
Tags: appellate-review criminal-sentencing harmless-error judicial-discretion procedural-error sentencing-guidelines
Latest Conference: 2025-03-21
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether an appellate court should rely on a sentencing judge's routine assertions that they would have imposed the same sentence despite a Sentencing Guidelines error

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

Some sentencing judges ro utinely assert that they would have selected the exact same sentence regardless of any error in applying the Sentencing Guidelines. Should an appellate court rely on those routine assertions when deciding whether an error is harmless? ii DIRECTLY

Docket Entries

2025-03-24
Petition DENIED.
2025-03-06
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/21/2025.
2025-03-04
Waiver of United States of right to respond submitted.
2025-03-04
Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
2025-02-24
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due March 28, 2025)

Attorneys

Leopoldo Villareal
James Matthew WrightOffice of the Federal Public Defender, Petitioner
James Matthew WrightOffice of the Federal Public Defender, Petitioner
United States
Sarah M. HarrisActing Solicitor General, Respondent
Sarah M. HarrisActing Solicitor General, Respondent