In United States v. Green, --- F.3d ---, No. 17-30227 (9th Cir. 2019), the Court considered whether a district court must decide on a defendant’s eligibility
for an acceptance-of-responsibility reduction in his
Guidelines level before listening to the defendant’s
allocution.
It answered, no. The district court can and should consider the allocution in determining acceptance.
"We hold that the sentencing court erred by concluding
that it could not first hear from the defendant before
determining whether a reduction for acceptance of
responsibility was warranted under the Sentencing
Guidelines. We also conclude that this misapprehension was
plain error and so vacate the sentence and remand for
resentencing."
