W. Patrick Kenna v. United States District Court for the Central District of California

Opinion by Judge KOZINSKI; Dubitante by Judge FRIEDMAN

We consider whether the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3771 , gives victims the right to allocute at sentencing.

Facts

Moshe and Zvi Leichner, father and son, swindled scores of victims out of almost $100 million. While purporting to make investments in foreign currency, they spent or concealed the funds entrusted to them. Each defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. More than sixty of the Leiehners’ victims submitted written victim impact statements. At Moshe’s sentencing, several, including petitioner W. Patrick Kenna, spoke about the effects of the Leiehners’ crimes — retirement savings lost, businesses bankrupted and lives ruined. The district court sentenced Moshe to 240 months in prison.

Three months later, at Zvi’s sentencing, the district court heard from the prosecutor and the defendant, as required by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(i)(4). But the court denied the victims the opportunity to speak. It explained:

One victim protested that “[t]here are many things that are going on with the residual and second and third impacts in this case that have…