Two of note on Booker from the 11th Circuit

June 30, 2005

The 11th Circuit brings us two interesting Booker rulings today:

In US v. King, No. 04-14021 (11th Cir. June 30, 2005) (available here), the Court is able to use plain error standards to avoid conclusively deciding whether Blakely and Booker limit a federal court’s ability to set restitution based on facts neither admitted by the defendant nor found by a jury. Along the way, the 11th Circuit provides a lot of cites which document the state of such a claim in other circuits.

In US v. Vanorden, No. 03-11083(11th Cir. June 30, 2005) (available here), the Court disposes of a Booker GVR by deciding that the Booker claim had been previously abandoned. This is not news from the 11th Circuit, but Judge Tjoflat’s special concurrence adds to the story in interesting ways.