In U.S. v. Martinez, No. 05-10382 (April 29, 2005), the Court held that "plain error" infected a sentence under Booker, where the district court expressed an "unequivocal desire" to impose a setnence lower than the minimum sentence mandated by the Sentencing Guidelines. The Court vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing.
Martinez’ pre-Booker Guideline sentence, as a career offender, was 262-327 months. During the sentencing, the district court inquired if there was "any way we can make [the sentence] shorter," and expressed regret that "unfortunately" her power to impose a lower sentence was limited by the Guidelines. The Court noted that the court erred, in light of the intervening Booker decision, in considering the Guidelines to be mandatory, and held that the circumstances constituted "plain error."
