Why Appeal Waivers Protect Botched Sentences

Podcast: Swear on the Stand · Daniel W. Swear

Opublikowano: 2026-10-20

Following a Supreme Court remand, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals evaluated whether an appeal waiver should be set aside for Devin Chaney, who challenged his sentence. Although Chaney argued that his classification as a career offender and the trial court's swift dismissal of his objection constituted a miscarriage of justice, the appellate court disagreed. The panel explained that the Supreme Court's newly established miscarriage-of-justice exception establishes an exceptionally high threshold reserved only for extreme and blatant errors. Because sentencing calculations are inherently complex, routine guideline mistakes do not invalidate an otherwise valid appeal waiver. Consequently, the court upheld...