Here is the opinion.
An excerpt:
Michael Tsosie entered into a plea agreement with the government and pleaded guilty to one count of abusive sexual contact in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2244(a)(1). Pursuant to the plea agreement, the District Court sentenced Tsosie to eighteen months of imprisonment, a sentence well below the Guidelines range of 97 to 121 months. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1)(C). At the sentencing hearing, the victim’s counsel urged the District Court to order Tsosie to pay $31,994 in restitution to the victim’s mother to cover costs she incurred in making a series of trips between her home and the victim’s boarding school, 150 miles away. The District Court ordered the restitution.
Tsosie appeals the restitution order, arguing (1) that the mother’s travel expenses were not “incurred by the victim” and were therefore not subject to restitution under the applicable statute, and, in the alternative, (2) that the restitution award was issued in violation of the procedural and evidentiary requirements of 18 U.S.C. § 3664. We agree with the second but not the first of these arguments. We also hold that Tsosie has not waived his right to appeal the restitution order.
Judge Bea partially dissented, writing:
In Part IV, however, the majority holds the district court erred in awarding restitution based on a detailed spreadsheet from the victim’s mother to which the defendant never objected, save for a vague statement by defense counsel that “sufficient evidence ha[d] [not] been provided.” To this holding, I respectfully dissent.
Turtle Talk 