Opinion
5:23-cr-00140-M-RJ
08-09-2024
ORDER
RICHARD E. MYERS II CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
This matter comes before the court sua sponte. On March 15, 2024, this court sentenced Defendant to 132 months of imprisonment for distributing and possessing child pornography. See DE 36. Although mandatory restitution applies, as indicated at the sentencing hearing and in the judgment, this court deferred the imposition of restitution until 90 days after sentencing to ensure an adequate determination of the full amount of any victim's losses and the defendant's relative role in the causal process that underlies those losses. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 2259(b) & 3664(d)(5).
The 90-day restitution deadline expired on June 13, 2024. However, a sentencing court “nonetheless retains the power to order restitution-at least where, as here, the sentencing court made clear prior to the deadline's expiration that it would order restitution, leaving open (for more than 90 days) only the amount.” See Dolan v. United States, 560 U.S. 605, 608 (2010); United States v. Hargrove, 2024 WL 489477, at *2 (4th Cir. Feb. 8, 2024).
On or before August 23, 2024, the parties shall inform the court regarding the status of negotiations between defense counsel and the victim(s). The parties shall also include their position on whether the restitution deadline should be extended to allow them additional time to submit a final determination of the losses of Defendant's victim(s) to the extent those losses reflect Defendant's relative role in the causal process. See 18 U.S.C. § 2259(b).
SO ORDERED.