Cianci sentence unchanged

As detailed in this article, US District Chief Judge Ernest Torres “declined to change the 64-month prison term former that [Providence] Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. is serving after his racketeering conviction in the Operation Plunder Dome corruption case.”  In this prior post, I expressed concern that the First Circuit seemed to cut Cianci a plain error break when it remanded his case for resentencing under Booker, but today’s decision seems to make the remand ultimately inconsequential.  Here are notable snippets from the news report linked above:

In resentencing Cianci today, Torres adopted the reasoning behind the guidelines, saying they had produced a reasonable punishment for Cianci’s crime…. Torres also rejected arguments from prosecutors that Cianci’s sentence should be increased to 71 months because he has not accepted responsibility for his crime. Torres said that had already been factored into the original sentence.