United States v. Wei Lin

Defendant Wei Lin was charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1594 (c), and several counts of sex trafficking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591 (a). Lin pled guilty to the conspiracy count, which carried no mandatory minimum. See 18 U.S.C. § 1594 (c). In exchange, the substantive sex trafficking offenses, which carried fifteen-year mandatory mínimums, were dismissed. See 15 U.S.C. § 1591 (b)(1). After the district court made it clear that the base offense level for Lin’s crime would be 34, Lin moved to withdraw his guilty plea, based on his attorney’s erroneous advice that his base offense level would be 14. The district court denied Lin’s motion, and sentenced Lin to 235 months in prison. Lin now appeals, and argues that: (1) the district court erred in determining his base offense level; (2) if the district court correctly determined his base offense level, then the court erred in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea; and (3) the district court imposed a substantively unreasonable sentence. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 , 1294 and 48 U.S.C. §§ 1821 , 1824. We hold that the district court erred in…