Sean Jarred Davis v. United States

The Government charged Sean Jarred Davis in a four-count superseding indictment that related to the distribution of heroin and fentanyl. Davis subsequently pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and for distributing those illicit substances. In the resulting plea agreement, Davis preserved his right to appeal a firearm enhancement and a leadership enhancement. And the Government agreed that it would not seek additional enhancements. Davis’s pre-sentence investigation report nevertheless included a livelihood enhancement that Davis and the Government had not discussed before they struck their deal. At Davis’s sentencing hearing, the Government said nothing when the district court adopted the livelihood enhancement, even after the district court solicited feedback about Davis’s sentence. Thus, the question presented is whether Due Process requires district courts to assess if the Government has committed an implied breach through the totality of its conduct at sentencing when a criminal defendant alleges Government breach of a plea agreement or whether district courts should confine their assessment to the four corners of a plea agreement.