Ninth Circuit reviews Booker pipeline rules

The Ninth Circuit today in US v. Beng-Salazar, No. 04-50518 (9th Cir. July 6, 2006) (available here), provides an extended and thoughtful review of a range of Booker appellate pipeline issues.  Here is the concluding paragraph:

We follow the lead of every other circuit to consider the issue and hold that a defendant who raised an objection in district court based on the Sixth Amendment holdings of the Apprendi line of cases preserved his claim that he is entitled to resentencing under the advisory Guidelines regime.  Because Beng's objections pass muster under this test, he is entitled to full vacatur of his sentence and a remand to the district court for resentencing unless the Government can show that the error was harmless.  In light of the district court's understandable silence on how it would have sentenced Beng under an advisory Guidelines system, the Government cannot meet its burden.