Back to all newsCW achieves sentence reversal from the Ninth Circuit in published opinion
April 2024
CW represented a bank executive on appeal of her convictions before the Ninth Circuit. After the Ninth Circuit reversed the client's conviction for making a false entry in the bank's records, CW represented the client at her resentencing. Over CW's objection, the district court found that the client was a leader/organizer of the alleged scheme and sentenced her to custody. CW filed a second appeal. Before the Ninth Circuit, the government argued that CW's challenge to the leader/organizer enhancement was waived because it was not raised in the first appeal. A team led by partners Alyssa Bell and Michael Schafler and associate Rachael Robinson convinced the Ninth Circuit to reject the government's novel waiver theory in a published opinion, and to reverse the district court's erroneous application of an enhancement that never should have applied in the first instance. The Ninth Circuit's opinion reaffirmed the plenary nature of resentencing proceedings and forestalled the government's effort to limit the issues defendants may present on appeal.