United States v. Lajai Pridgette

FACTS

In 2013, Lajai Pridgette was driving a Mustang on Interstate 84 in southern Idaho.1 Occupants of two separate vehicles reported that someone had shot at them from inside the Mustang. An Idaho State Trooper tracked down the Mustang, and Pridgette was arrested. While searching the Mustang, Troopers recovered a handgun, a spent shell casing, marijuana and machines used to produce counterfeit credit cards. It was later determined that the Mustang had been rented from Hertz but was not returned on the agreed-upon date.

1 To the extent that we refer here to facts contained exclusively in the PSR, we pro tanto lift the order sealing that document. Pridgette was charged with transporting a stolen vehicle, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing counterfeit credit cards and possessing counterfeiting devices. A jury convicted Pridgette on each count. The district judge sentenced him to 137 months incarceration and ordered him to pay $13,709.16 in restitution to Hertz and the credit card companies.

Senior United States Probation Officer Brent Flock prepared a presentence investigation report (PSR) detailing Pridgette’s criminal history. The PSR indicated that…

concurring in part and dissenting in part:

I concur in the court’s vacatur of the sentence and restitution order and in its remand for resentencing. I respectfully dissent from the court’s decision to limit the evidence that the district court may consider on remand to that which is in the existing record.

I

A

“The default rule is that ‘if a district court errs in sentencing, we will remand for resentencing on an open record — that is, without limitation on the evidence that the district court may consider.’ ” United States v. Flores, 725 F.3d 1028, 1043 (9th Cir. 2013) (quoting United States v. Matthews, 278 F.3d 880, 885-86 (9th Cir. 2002) (en banc)). “We may depart from this general rule where additional evidence would not have changed the outcome or where there was a failure of proof after a full inquiry into the factual question at issue.” Id. (emphasis added) (internal quotation marks omitted). Because departure from the default rule is permissive, not mandatory, I would require the party seeking a closed remand to explain why we should depart from our default rule.

Pridgette did not address this issue at all in his opening brief. “We review only issues that are argued…

Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge O’SCANNLAIN

OPINION

We consider whether a remand for re-sentencing a criminal defendant should be on an open or closed record.

FACTS

In 2013, Lajai Pridgette was driving a Mustang on Interstate 84 in southern Idaho. 1 Occupants of two separate vehicles reported that someone had shot at them from inside the Mustang. An Idaho State Trooper tracked down the Mustang, and Pridgette was arrested. While searching the Mustang, Troopers recovered a handgun, a spent shell casing, marijuana and , machines used to produce counterfeit credit cards. It was later determined that the Mustang had been rented from Hertz but was not returned on the agreed-upon date.

Pridgette was charged with transporting a stolen vehicle, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing counterfeit credit cards and possessing counterfeiting devices. A jury convicted Pridgette on each count. The district judge sentenced him to 137 months incarceration and ordered him to pay $13,709.16 in restitution to Hertz and the credit card companies.

Senior United States Probation Officer Brent Flock prepared a presentence investigation report (PSR) detailing…