Articles Posted in Federal Sentencing

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In U.S. v. Edmond, Defendant was indicted for conspiracy to commit access-device fraud and aggravated identity theft based upon his use of social security numbers to make fraudulent bank transfers. Pursuant to a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to possession of fifteen or more unauthorized access devices – an unindicted offense – and one count of aggravated identity theft. On the basis of this plea, the District Court sentenced Edmond to prison for a total of 48 months.

For some time in January to the beginning of April 2013, Edmond and his co-conspirator, Sheenequa Angel Michel, allegedly engaged in a scheme fraudulently transfer money using unauthorized “replacement cards”. Michel, a Bank of America teller, would improperly access, photograph, and create lists of “the personal identification information, including Social Security numbers,” of BofA customers. Edmond would then use that information to acquire unauthorized replacement cards, and in turn, would use those cards to make fraudulent money transfers. This resulted in a total loss of $14,243.31. A BofA representative confronted her after investigation identity-theft complaints. Michel admitted her involvement. Later she agreed to cooperate. She transferred another 90 names to Edmond, this list consisted of controlled identities provided by law enforcement. Following the transfer, agents arrested Edmond.
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In U.S. v. Estrada, Defendant Rudy Estrada pled guilty to illegal re-entry after being deported subsequent to an aggravated felony conviction. He now appeals the 48-month sentence imposed by the district court, arguing that the district court erred in applying a 16-level enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii). This particular enhancement is triggered when, among other things, a defendant has been convicted of a crime of violence prior to his deportation. The district court found that Defendant’s prior conviction was for a crime of violence within the meaning of enhancement.

In August 2004, Defendant, a Mexican citizen, was convicted in a Florida state court of throwing a deadly missile, in violation of Florida statute § 790.19. Subsequently, Defendant was deported to Mexico, but he later illegally reentered the U.S. he later was arrested on state drug charges, and he thereafter pled guilty in the criminal case that is now before us. Prior to sentencing, the probation office prepares a presentence report that calculated a base offense level of 8, a 16-level enhancement for a previous crime of violence, and a 3-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility. Prior to and during his sentencing gearing, Defendant objected to the 16-level crime of violence enhancement. Defendant argued that this prior Florida statute, § 790.19 conviction did not qualify as a crime of violence under § 2L1.2(b)(1)(C). The commentary for this section of the Guidelines defines “crime of violence” as either being one of the enumerated offenses set out therein or any offense “that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another”. Defendant argued that it did not have an element that required the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against another person. Defendant, however, conceded that an 8-level aggravated felony enhancement pursuant to § 2L1.2(b)(1)(C) was appropriate in lieu of the 16-level enhancement.

The court of appeals applies Estrella Case in this saying that Estrella held that a conviction under Florida Statute § 790.19 is not categorically a crime of violence for purposes of application of the 16-level crime-of-violence enhancement under § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii). Estrella also concluded that § 790.19 is a divisible statute and hence use of the modified categorical test is appropriate. To apply the test here, court of appeals examine any Shepard-approved documents to see whether those documents identify the particular mens rea element upon which the prior conviction of the Defendant in this case rested. Charging Defendant with § 790.19, which information charges that Defendant “wantonly or maliciously” threw a deadly missile at an occupied vehicle. As Defendant nolo contendere plea was to an information charging him in the disjunctive with wantonly or maliciously committing a particular act in violation of § 790.19, Court of appeals is likewise unable to determine on which mens rea element Defendant’s conviction was based. For that reason, the Court of Appeals concured with Defendant’s argument and acceptd the government’s concession that the district court erred in concluding that this prior conviction was for a crime-of-violence offense Court of appeals vacate and remand.

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In U.S. v Payne, Defendant Payne appealed his sentence for bank robbery and possession of a firearm, arguing that the district court violated his Sixth Amendment rights when it sentenced him to the mandatory minimum sentence on a firearm charge. Payne pleaded guilty to federal crime of bank robbery where he served as the getaway driver, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), (d), and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). He received a 30-month sentence on the bank robbery count and a mandatory minimum 84-month sentence on the firearm count. At his plea hearing where he pleaded guilty to both counts of the indictment, Payne admitted that he had knowingly participated in an armed robbery of a bank.

Based on the fact that one of Payne’s accomplices had pointed a pistol at a bank teller during the robbery, the Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) concluded that Payne was subject to an 84-month mandatory minimum sentence to be served consecutive to his sentence for the bank robbery charge. Because his indictment had not specifically mentioned the brandishing provision of §924(c)(1)(A) and he had never admitted at his plea hearing, he asserted that sentencing him to the mandatory minimum would violate his Fifth Amendment due process rights and his Sixth Amendment rights.

Payne’s primary contention on appeal was that the district court violated his Sixth Amendment rights, when it sentenced him to the mandatory minimum sentence alleging an error under Alleyne v. United States. If an Alleyne error occurred, the court of appeals would vacate Payne’s sentence unless the error was harmless. Under Alleyne, any fact that increases the mandatory minimum sentence for a crime must be admitted by a defendant or be submitted to a jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt evidence. In this case, he did not admit at his plea hearing that the firearm had been brandished during the bank robbery that he committed, because he was waiting in the car for the getaway. Nevertheless the district court sentenced him to a mandatory minimum sentence based on the evidence presented where a bank teller testified that one of the defendants had pointed a pistol in her face during the robbery and the defense didn’t rebut the teller’s testimony.

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In U.S. v. Vandergrift, the defendant was placed on three years of supervised release after serving a 97-month sentence for the federal crime of possession and distribution of child pornography. Before the expiration of a three year supervised release, Vandergrift’s probation officer filed a petition seeking revocation of his supervised release charging that he violated the following conditions of his supervised release: (1) failing to obtain lawful employment; (2) failing to obey instructions to search for and obtain employment; (3) knowingly giving false information to a probation officer when questioned about the whereabouts of another federal supervisee; (4) possessing or having access to a pornographic DVD and a Maxim magazine, both of which contained sexually stimulating material; and (5) violating 18 U.S.C.§ 1001, when he knowingly lied to a probation officer about his roommate’s absence. The district court revoked Vandergrift’s release and imposed an above-guidelines sentence of 24 month imprisonment to be followed by one year of supervised release.

In revoking supervised release, the court considered the safety of the public, the example set to others in deterring similar conduct, punishment for the crime that was committed, and the court also considered what was best for Vandergrift as a factor.

Having considered all of these, the sentence imposed was 24 months in prison, the maximum under statute hoping that during the period of imprisonment “something can be found to put him on a better course.”

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In U.S. v. Charles the defendant was found in possession of prepaid debit cards that were loaded with tax-refund monies sent by the I.R.S. in response to fraudulent tax returns. Charles pleaded guilty to the federal crimes of trafficking in access devices and aggravated identity theft. The identity theft count carries an additional two-year sentence that runs consecutively to another other predicate crime involving the unauthorized transfer, possession, or use of the identity of another. The applicable sentencing guidelines provision for the access device count, section 2B1(b)(11)(B), has a two-level increase for the production or trafficking of unauthorized devices The district court found that the enhancement was warranted because the Charles transferred one of the prepaid debit cards to his codefendant and thereby “trafficked” an unauthorized access device.

On appeal, Charles challenged the two point enhancement arguing the district court erred in refusing to submit the applicability of the enhancement to a jury pursuant to Alleyne v. U. S. The court rejected his Alleyne argument because the two level increase only affected Charles’ guidelines calculation and not his statutory mandatory minimum or maximum sentence. Alleyne holds that a court cannot make a judicial finding of a fact at sentencing where the fact is an element of a crime that increases the maximum sentence. Alleyne preserved a sentencing court’s fact finding authority concerning facts that impact the statutory punishment.

However, the court of appeals did find that the two level increase for trafficking was error. U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1). The guidelines applicable to U.S.C. § 1028A is USSG 2B1.6 which specifically provides that the sentencing guideline for the identity theft offense is the two year consecutive sentence mandated by statute. The Application Notes of the guidelines explain that if a sentence under section 2B1.6 is imposed in conjunction with a sentence for an underlying offense, the court should not apply any specific offense characteristic for the “transfer, possession, or use of a means of identification when determining the sentence for the underlying offense.” Because Charles already received the mandated two-year consecutive for aggravated identity theft, the Application Note to section 2B1.6 precluded the two level increase for transferring the debit card to the codefendant.

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In U. S. v Fowler the defendant was convicted of under the federal witness tampering statute for murdering a police officer with the intent of preventing him from communicating information about a federal criminal offense to a federal law enforcement officer. He was also charged in count two with using a firearm during a federal crime of violence, specifically a conspiracy to commit a robbery in the conspiracy to commit bank robbery and in doing so by murdering officer police officer following. Following a trial Fowler was found guilty on both counts is presentence investigation report calculated is offense level for count one the witness tampering at 46 and with his criminal history category of six he faced a recommended sentencing guideline of life in prison. For the gun possession the presentence investigation report recommended the 10 year mandatory minimum sentence. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for count one in eight consecutive term of 10 years for count two.

Fowler appealed his conviction for witness tampering arguing that the evidence was insufficient to show the officer would likely have communicated with a federal official. The conviction was affirmed by the 11th circuit, but the U.S. Supreme Court reversed, holding that the evidence was insufficient for the conviction under the witness tampering statute. On remand, the district court vacated the sentence and decided it would re-sentence the defendant and count two. The district would announced that it would not have given someone 810 year sentence on a murder with a firearm charge standing alone. After the presentence report calculated the defendant’s guideline range it found the guideline range to be life imprisonment. The court imposed a life sentence.

On appeal, the defendant Fowler argued the district court had no authority to re-sentence him on the remaining count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a federal crime, but instead was required to let the 10 year sentence stand. And he argued that the original sentence was not a “sentencing package” and the firearm count was not interdependent with the witness tampering count. He argued that the two counts were not put together under the sentencing guidelines and that the sentencing court should not impose any sentence greater than the ten-year term originally imposed.

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Rodriguez challenged her guilty plea to conspiracy to commit the federal crimes of mail fraud and wire fraud arguing that her plea was not knowing or voluntary. She also claimed her plea should not have been accepted by the district judge because she told the district judge she suffered from a mental illness. She also challenged the sentence imposed. The court of appeals found no error. Rodriguez pleaded guilty for her participation in a mortgage fraud scheme involving fraudulent loan applications submitted to lenders across the country to obtain loans and properties in Miami-Dade County and in Broward County. The scheme used straw buyers who had no intention of residing in the purchase properties. The loan applications contained false employment verifications, false paystubs, and false deposit verifications. The guideline range came to 78 to 97 months, but the district court gave her a sentence below the guideline range to prevent disparity with co-conspirators.

Because Rodriguez’s guilty plea challenge was raised for the first time on appeal, the court of appeals reviewed for plain error. During the plea she indicated that she had undergone treatment for mental than illness for the year following her arrest and was under the care of a psychologist. The court of appeals found that she had a full opportunity to do to consult with her Attorney during the guilty plea hearing. There was no evidence indicating an inability to consult with her attorney or to understand his advice to her. Similarly, there was no evidence to indicate she was not competent to enter the plea. The court found that the colloquy satisfied the provisions of rule 11.

The court of appeals rejected the defendant’s plea challenge on the grounds that there was and in sufficient factual basis to accept her plea. The court determined that Rodriguez confirmed at the plea hearing that she committed the offense, and it found a sufficient factual basis for the plea.

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Isaacson appealed his conviction following a jury trial for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud and securities fraud. The conspiracy defrauded investors through a hedge fund that placed money in shell companies with no assets or business operations. The hedge fund drove up the prices of the shell companies causing them to appear more valuable than they really were. From his Florida office, the defendant assisted in creating fraudulent valuation reports in an effort to placate auditors.

In his appeal, the defendant challenged the district court’s failure to grant his speedy trial motion. The court of appeals upheld the district court’s decision because it found the defendant filed his motion after the trial began. The defendant’s speedy trial motion was filed on April 19, 2010. Prior to that the trial court began ruling on jury challenges based on the written responses to juror questionnaires sent to perspective jurors. The court of appeals concluded that the voir dire had begun when the trial court began making its rulings.

The court also upheld the district court’s denial of the defendant’s statute of limitations challenge based on his claim that the government failed to prove an overt acts occurred within the period of the statute of limitations. The one overt act that took place within the statute of limitation period was done by the codefendant. The defendant argued that the overt act does not mention the defendant and cannot be used to bootstrap the defendant’s conduct within the statute of limitations. Rejecting this argument, the court of appeals found an individual conspirator need not participate in the overt act done in furtherance of the conspiracy for the overt act to fall within the statute of limitations.

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In U.S. v. Massam, the defendant was convicted of theft and embezzlement of an employee benefit fund (E.R.I.S.A) he set of for himself and his employees and for which he served as the pension plan administrator. After divorcing his fifth wife, the state divorce court entered a distribution order to his ex-wife in the amount of $452,242. The defendant then attempted to illegally transfer of the funds in the pension plans to a foreign bank account so he could later withdraw the funds. His attempt to transfer the funds failed when the foreign bank refused to accept the wire and the funds were returned to the domestic bank. Following that failed attempt he appealed the state court judgment awarding his wife’s funds pension funds, and in filing the appeal he posted a supersedeas bond in an amount which covered the court ordered amount for the ex-wife. Subsequently, the divorce court order was affirmed and his obligation to pay her was met by the supersedeas bond. Following all that, the defendant was investigated for his theft of the pension plans and eventually indicted and he pleaded guilty to the federal crime of theft, embezzlement, and money laundering in connection with his attempted transfer of the employee benefit funds.

His presentence investigation report calculated is guideline range based on the intended loss of $1,185,863.00 which was the amount that he attempted to transfer to the foreign bank. The presentence report gave him some credit for the funds still remaining in the pension fund. The district court rejected his argument that he should receive credit and for the amount he paid out of the bond to satisfy his pension related obligations to in his ex-wife under the asset allocation order. Credit for this amount would have reduced his sentencing guideline range significantly but the district court refused to give them credit.

The 11th Circuit found that he should not be given credit for the bond posted to pay his ex-wife because in his case the sentencing guidelines required that the calculation be based upon the intended loss which was the amount the defendant attempted to transfer to the foreign bank. It rejected his argument that his guideline should be reduced by the amount his wife received from the bond posted after he appealed from the divorce order. While the guidelines provide that a loss they would be reduced by the money returned by the defendant, the credit-against-loss is not available where the guideline range is based upon intended loss alone. It is also not available here because there is no victim in the case of an intended loss. The 11th Circuit also rejected the defense argument that the wife became a victim because her property interests was imperiled by the attempted overseas transfer. The court found the overseas transfer attempt took place long before his wife was due to receive the funds, which she eventually received from the supersedeas bond.

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In U.S v. Tellis, the Defendant pleaded guilty to selling crack cocaine in October of 2001. The presentence investigation report designated him as a career offender giving him an offense level of 37 under the sentencing guidelines, but because of the amount quantity of crack cocaine his base offense level became 38 under the drug quantity table of the federal sentencing guidelines manual. The drug offense quantity level of 38 was higher than the career offender level so his career offender status did not impact his offense level. For that reason, his sentence was based on the drug quantity and not his status as a career offender. The federal judge in Florida reduced his offense level to 32 after giving reductions for acceptance of responsibility and substantial assistance and then sentenced him to 210 months. The sentencing was not transcribed because the court reporter’s notes were destroyed, but there was no dispute as to these reductions.

In 2007 the United States Sentencing Commission amended the guideline range providing for a two-level reduction in the based offense level for crack cocaine offenses. Known as amendment 706, it applied retroactively. As a result the defendant’s offense level was reduced from a level 38 to a level 36 for his offense. The defendant moved for a sentence reduction under the new calculation. This time however the starting point was offense level 37 and not at a level 36 because of his career offender status, giving him an offense level 31 after acceptance and substantial assistance reductions.

In November 2011 the sentencing commission again amended the guidelines for crack cocaine. This time the defendant’s based offense level fell to a level 34 instead of the original level 38. The defendant again moved to reduce his sentence, but this time probation office found he was not eligible for a sentence reduction because of his status as a career offender. The defendant argued in this appeal that he should be eligible for the reduction because the record was not clear that he was considered a career offender and the initial sentence. The court of appeals rejected his position because it found that the record was clear he did have a career offender status. And also found that when he received the reduction in 2008 the defendant had stipulated to a sentence modification that was calculated based of his career offender status.

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