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Man’s 235-month sentence is reversed
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has reversed the 235-month prison sentence of a man who was convicted of luring women from China to Saipan on false promises of jobs and then forcing them into prostitution once they got here.
The Ninth Circuit reversed Wei Lin’s sentence and remanded his case to U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona for resentencing.
The Ninth Circuit ruled that Manglona erred in calculating Lin’s base offense level.
Lin had tried to withdraw his guilty plea as his base offense level was set at 34 but the Ninth Circuit’s decision makes his argument moot.
Under base offense level 34, the sentence is between 151 months to 188 months imprisonment.
Ninth Circuit Judge Jerome Farris issued the opinion. Circuit Judges J. Clifford Wallace and Paul J. Watford concurred.
The Ninth Circuit judges said they need not reach Lin’s substantive unreasonableness argument since they vacate his sentence on the base offense level error.
The judges said common sense, the plain language of the sentencing guidelines, and the Sentencing Commission’s commentary all show that a section in the sentencing guidelines provides that the offense level for sex trafficking is 34 “if the offense of conviction is 18 U.S.C. Section 1591(b)(1),” only applies to defendants who are subject to the 15-year mandatory minimum.
The Ninth Circuit judges said because Lin was not subject to the statute’s mandatory minimum, they concluded that Manglona erred in applying the base level of 34, rather than the base offense level of 14.
Under base offense level 14, the sentence is between 15 months to 21 months imprisonment.
The 18 U.S.C. Section 1591(b)(1) imposes a 15-year mandatory minimum if the offense involved minors under the age of 14, or force, threats of force, fraud or coercion.
The indictment charged Lin with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and several counts of sex trafficking.
Lin pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count, which carried no mandatory minimum.
In exchange, the substantive sex trafficking offenses, which carried 15-year mandatory minimums, were dismissed.
