United States v. Irina Topilina

MEMORANDUM

Defendant Irina Topilina was denied notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard as required by the Due Process Clause when the district court issued a restitution order without holding a hearing on the matter of restitution. See Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U.S. 67, 80 , 92 S.Ct. 1983 , 32 L.Ed.2d 556 (1972).. Although there is generally no requirement that a district court hold an oral hearing on restitution, see 18 U.S.C. § 3664 (d)(4), the district court’s repeated statements that such a hearing would be held and the parties’ mutual understanding to that effect yielded a settled expectation that a hearing would occur. It violated Topilina’s due process rights for the district court to then cancel the anticipated hearing and enter a restitution order without providing any notice and a pre-deprivation opportunity for Topilina to raise the arguments she had intended to make at the hearing.

The district court also erred in concluding that the failure to hold a hearing was harmless. The district court reasoned that Topilina had previously conceded the facts underlying the restitution order by failing to object earlier to statements in the pre-sentence investigation report…