Another impressive Sixth Circuit Booker episode

I joked here that the Sixth Circuit’s Booker work has a soap-opera quality, but today’s installment of the saga at least suggests the judges in the circuit are all starting to work from basically the same script.  Today’s thoughtful opinion comes from Judge Karen Nelson Moore in US v. McDaniel, 03-1940 (6th Cir. Feb. 17, 2005) (available here), and in the end it remands on Booker grounds for resentencing while suggesting some developing harmony over how the circuit is dealing with plain error.

The Sixth Circuit’s work in McDaniel, like its work yesterday in Barnett, merits a close read for anyone working through plain error issues.  In addition, the McDaniel opinion has a lot of interesting dicta about the handling of pipeline issues, the application of Blakely/Booker to restitution issues, and a number of other matters.

UPDATE: Appellate Law & Practice picks up the soap opera theme with a great post entitled As the Sixth Circuit Booker World Turns.  This post includes additional commentary on McDaniel as well as a brief discussion of the Sixth Circuit’s unpublished disposition in US v. Fusse, No. 02-6112 (6th Cir, Feb. 17, 2005) (available here), which itself briefly deals with plain error on the way to granting a Booker remand.