United States v. William James Huckins

We must determine the constitutionality of a sentence premised upon hearsay statements contained in a presentence report.

I

Huekins confessed to having committed a series of bank robberies in the states of Oregon and Washington. Huekins ultimately pled guilty to six counts of unarmed bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a).

The Probation Office, in its presentence report (“PSR”), concluded that Huekins was a career offender, see U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, and calculated his base offense level at 32. The Probation Office recommended that Huekins be given a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 for a total offense level of 29, resulting in an applicable sentencing range of 151 to 188 months.

Further, the Probation Office recommended that Huekins be sentenced at the high end of the sentencing range, “given the possibility that [Huekins] was carrying a firearm in some of the offenses.” The Probation Office grounded this recommendation in statements — recounted in the PSR — made by Huekins’ accomplice, Dennis Miller, and by a bank teller victimized in one of the robberies. Miller gave a post-arrest statement to federal agents in which…