Ninth Circuit addresses jurisdictional issues in face of appeal waiver

The Ninth Circuit today in US v. Castillo, No. 05-30401 (9th Cir. July 25, 2007) (available here), resolves through an en banc ruling an issue explained in the first sentence of the majority's ruling:

We granted en banc review in this case to resolve a question to which we have given inconsistent answers: Do we have jurisdiction to hear an appeal when the defendant entered a guilty plea in which he waived his right to appeal?

In case you don't want to have to read the full opinion, here is the majority's bottom line: "Regardless of whether a defendant enters into a conditional plea or an unconditional plea, we retain jurisdiction to hear the appeal."