Mejia: Booker error was harmless

In U.S. v. Mejia-Giovani, No. 04-16138 (July 15, 2005), the Court (Anderson, Carnes, Pryor) held that any Booker error that occurred at sentencing in imposing a middle of the Guideline sentence was harmless, when the sentencing judge stated at sentencing that its patience was running thin with respect to the defendant's pattern of illegal re-entry, and warned of a possible upward departure. "Based on this record, we can say with fair assurance that Mejia-Giovani would not have received a lesser sentence in the absence of statutory [Booker] error."