United States v. James Earl Matthews

Defendant James Earl Matthews (“Matthews”) was convicted of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentenced as an Armed Career Criminal to 280 months in prison under 18 U.S.C. § 924 (e) and United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 4B 1.4(b)(3)(B). Matthews appealed both the underlying conviction and his sentence. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742 (a).

A three-judge panel of this court affirmed Matthews’s conviction, reversed his sentence, and remanded for resentencing on the existing record. We agreed to rehear this case en banc to determine whether, in remanding for resentencing, it was appropriate to limit the district court’s discretion to consider additional evidence. We hold, consistent with our past practice, that we generally will not limit the district court’s discretion to consider additional evidence when we remand for resentencing. We further hold that the circumstances of this case do not warrant a departure from this general rule. We adopt as our own the portions of the panel opinion affirming the conviction and reversing Matthews’s sentence. Contrary to the panel opinion, however, we remand for…