Interesting 8th Circuit discussion of forfeiture and sentencing issues

I cannot let a day go by without noting some notable circuit court ruling, and the Eighth Circuit has provided blog-worthy material with its decision today in US v. Huber, No. 03-2510 (8th Cir. Apr. 21, 2005) (available here).  Huber concerns convictions for farm-program benefits and crop-insurance payment fraud, and much of the opinion is devoted to a discussion of an error in calculating the amount of a forfeiture order.  But Huber concludes with an interesting sentencing discussion: the court remands for re-sentencing because the district court had departed downward based in part on the forfeiture calculations, and in so doing the court notes, but then artfully dodges, questions about proper guideline calculations.   The Huber court also has this to say about plain error review in the Eighth Circuit:

Our plain-error analysis in Booker cases is currently under development in United States v. Pirani, No. 03-2871, and all cases raising issues of plain-error are awaiting an opinion in Pirani.