Another exposition on Rita reasonableness from the Sixth Circuit

Following up on its work last week in Liou (discussed here), the Sixth Circuit today in US v. Wilms, No. 06-1896 (6th Cir. July 23, 2007) (available here), provides another important discussion of the Supreme Court’s work in Rita and what it means for post-Booker sentencing.  Here is how the opinion starts:

Defendant-Appellant Blake Wilms appeals his sentence of sixty-three months in prison following his plea of guilty to four counts of bank robbery and one count of attempted bank robbery.  Wilms argues that the district court improperly applied a presumption of reasonableness to the applicable Guidelines range, thereby failing to consider properly the sentencing factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).  Because the record indicates that the district court applied a rebuttable presumption that Wilms should be sentenced within the applicable Guidelines range, we VACATE Wilms’s sentence and REMAND the case for resentencing.