United States v. Rucker ( 1999 )

F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
PUBLISH
JUN 9 1999
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
PATRICK FISHER
TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
No. 98-3252
v.
RICHARD L. RUCKER,
Defendant-Appellant.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS
(D.C. 97-40099-01-RDR)
Submitted on the briefs: *
James G. Chappas of Topeka, Kansas, for Defendant-Appellant.
T.G. Luedke, Assistant United States Attorney, Jackie D. Williams, United States
Attorney, with him on the brief, Topeka Kansas, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Before SEYMOUR, Chief Judge, BALDOCK, and HENRY, Circuit Judges.
HENRY, Circuit Judge.
*
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of
this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
Mr. Rucker pled guilty to robbing a United States Post Office in violation
of 18 U.S.C. § 2114. On November 12, 1997, Mr. Rucker and his accomplice
entered a post office at approximately 2:00 p.m.. Mr. Rucker carried a handgun
with a laser sight. While his accomplice jumped behind the counter to take
money, Mr. Rucker ordered customers and clerks to the floor, pointing the gun at
them.
The district court sentenced Mr. Rucker in accord with United States
Sentencing Guideline §2B3.1. The court calculated a total offense level of
twenty-nine, reflecting a base offense level of twenty and various adjustments.
Mr. Rucker challenges two of the adjustments on appeal: a six-level enhancement
based on a finding that the defendant “otherwise used” a firearm during the
robbery, pursuant to U.S.S.G. §2B3.1(b)(2)(B), and a two-level enhancement
based on physical restraint of victims, pursuant to U.S.S.G. §2B3.1(b)(4)(B). He
contends that the application of both enhancements amounts to impermissible
double counting, and that there was insufficient evidence to establish that he
“otherwise used” a firearm under the Guidelines. We address each argument in
turn, and, rejecting each, affirm the sentence.
I. Six-Level Enhancement for “Otherwise Us[ing]” a Firearm.
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The Guidelines provide for three degrees of enhancement for robbery
conducted in some manner with a firearm: if the gun is discharged, the
enhancement is seven levels; if the gun is “otherwise used,” the enhancement is
six levels; if the gun is “brandished, displayed or possessed,” the enhancement is
five levels. See U.S.S.G. §2B3.1(b)(2)(A), (B) & (C). Mr. Rucker contends there
was insufficient evidence to find at sentencing that he “otherwise used” a firearm
and that his enhancement should be no more than five levels under this provision.
We review the district court’s factual findings in sentencing for clear error. See
United States v. Flinn , 987 F.2d 1497, 1500 (10th Cir. 1993). We review the
interpretation of the Guidelines de novo. See United States v. Hogan , 116 F.3d
442, 443-44 (10th Cir. 1997).
The district court found credible testimony that Mr. Rucker pointed the gun
at post office clerks during the robbery and that he held the clerks at gunpoint.
See Rec. vol. I, doc. 42, at 4. Todd Flory, one of the postal employees present at
the robbery, testified to this, and the district court found the testimony credible.
This factual finding is not clearly erroneous, and we therefore rely on it in
reviewing the six-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. §2B3.1(b)(2)(B).
The court then decided that pointing a gun at the victims and holding them
at gunpoint amounted to “otherwise using” the firearm in a manner meriting the
six-level enhancement. The Guidelines define “otherwise used” as conduct that
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“did not amount to the discharge of the firearm but was more than brandishing,
displaying, or possessing a firearm.” U.S.S.G. § 1B1.1, comment. (n. 1(g)). This
court has held a firearm to be otherwise used where the defendant pointed a gun
at the head of the victim and threatened her, and then pointed the gun at another
victim while ordering him to open a safe and provide money. United States v.
Gilkey , 118 F.3d 702, 704-05 (10th Cir. 1997). The instant case is sufficiently
similar to fall in the same category between discharge and mere brandishing of a
firearm: Mr. Rucker pointed a gun, equipped with a laser sight (the use of which
could only have increased the fear in his victims), at the clerks while ordering
them to comply with his demands. The six-level enhancement was not error.
II. Double-Counting
Mr. Rucker argues that because the six-point enhancement for “otherwise
us[ing]” a firearm and the two-point enhancement for physical restraint of victims
stem from a single act on his part – namely, pointing the gun at the clerks and
customers – his sentence improperly imposes two penalties for that single act.
The Courts of Appeals are not settled on what exactly constitutes
impermissible double counting. This court has held that “[i]mpermissible double
counting or impermissible cumulative sentencing [under the Guidelines] occurs
when the same conduct on the part of the defendant is used to support separate
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increases under separate enhancement provisions which necessarily overlap, are
indistinct, and serve identical purposes.” United States v. Flinn , 18 F.3d 826, 829
(10th Cir. 1994). Importantly, the last three conditions are stated as a conjunctive
requirement; that is, all three must be met for the use of separate enhancements to
constitute impermissible double counting.
For example, in United States v. Smith , 13 F.3d 1421, 1429 (10th Cir.
1994), this court held that enhancement under both §2F1.1(b)(2) and §3B1.1(a)
does not constitute double counting. Section 2F1.1(b)(2) provides a two-level
enhancement if the crime involves “more than minimal planning.” Section
3B1.1(a) provides a four-level enhancement if the “defendant was an organizer or
leader of a criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was
otherwise extensive” It is true that §3B1.1(a) “necessarily overlaps” with
§2F1.1(b)(2): One cannot be a leader of an extensive criminal activity of the sort
described without “more than minimal planning.” However the converse is not
true, and therefore the enhancements are certainly not indistinct: One could have
engaged in “more than minimal planning” of the criminal act without being the
leader of an extensive enterprise. And, the enhancements serve different purposes
if only because they punish activities that are, while related, not indistinct. When
a defendant’s sentence is enhanced multiple times for a seemingly single act,
impermissible double counting occurs only if the enhancements necessarily
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overlap, are indistinct, and serve identical purposes.
“Indeed, the consensus among [most] circuits . . . is that double counting is
permissible unless the Guidelines expressly provide otherwise or a compelling
basis exists for implying such a prohibition.” United States v. Harris , 41 F.3d
1121, 1123 (7th Cir. 1994). Different rationales for this apparent leniency with
regard to double counting have been provided by different circuits.
The First and Fourth Circuits have concentrated on the broad discretion of
the Sentencing Commission and the impropriety of courts second-guessing
whether certain conduct should or should not be punished as severely as the
language of the Guidelines would tend to indicate: “We . . . cannot take issue
with the discretionary choice made by the Sentencing Commission to punish
certain previously deported aliens more severely than others.” United States v.
Crawford , 18 F.3d 1173, 1180 (4th Cir. 1994); see also United States v. Zapata , 1
F.3d 46, 48-49 (1st Cir. 1993) (“[T]o the extent the same factor reflects both the
seriousness of the offense and the likelihood of a defendant’s recidivism, it may
be considered twice in sentencing -- the separate purposes of punishment and
deterrence -- so long as the Commission, expressly or by fair implication, so
directs”).
The approach of the First and Fourth Circuits may overstate the
powerlessness of courts to check the Sentencing Commission. As the Seventh
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Circuit allowed in Harris , there may be a “compelling basis . . . for implying such
a prohibition [against double counting].” 41 F.3d at 1123. Such a compelling
basis certainly exists where the enhancements necessarily overlap, are indistinct,
and serve identical purposes. 1
The rationale supplied by the Ninth Circuit is perhaps most helpful:
“Double counting is permissible if it accounts for more than one type of harm
caused by the defendant’s conduct or where each enhancement of the defendant’s
sentence serves a unique purpose under the guidelines.” United States v. Parker ,
136 F.3d 653, 654 (9th Cir.), cert. denied , 119 S.Ct. 363 (1998). This formulation
is appealing because it brings the court back to a central factor in determining
whether and how much to punish: what is the harm? Insofar as a single act has
multiple harms, not every one of which accompanies that act in every instance, it
may be that the Commission separated the harms into different enhancements so
that each would apply only in those instances where the particular harm, to which
the enhancement was tailored, occurred.
1
This test imposes a high burden on the party challenging the sentence.
Indeed, a quick review of appellate cases reveals very few holding that improper
double counting occurred. The test remains important, however, for those rare
instances in which the calculus applied by the district court does double count.
See, e.g., U.S. v. Dawson , 1 F.3d 457, 461-63 (7th Cir. 1993) (district court
impermissibly double counted by departing from the Guidelines for multiple
counts of bank robbery when U.S.S.G. §3D1.4 provided an adjustment that fully
accounted for the multiple counts).
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Thus we come to Mr. Rucker’s contention that the district court
impermissibly double counted by enhancing his sentence six levels for “otherwise
using” a firearm and two levels for physically restraining the victims. The
argument is appealing because Mr. Rucker’s “otherwise use” of the gun was
pointing the gun at the victims to physically restrain them. However, the multiple
enhancement of a sentence for a single type of conduct does not, without more,
amount to double counting.
In the instant case, the enhancements at issue do not necessarily overlap,
are not indistinct, and do not serve identical purposes. As to the first of these
elements of double-counting analysis, it is tempting to imagine that pointing a gun
at someone necessarily overlaps with restraining the person, since nearly every
time one points a gun at a victim during a robbery, the pointing of the gun
physically restrains the victim in some way. But this is not always the case: The
robber might point a gun at a victim and tell him to “get out of here.” Such
would hardly physically restrain the victim. The converse scenario does not
involve the required necessary overlap either: physically restraining a victim does
not necessitate pointing a gun. Thus, the overlap required to find improper
double enhancements for a seemingly single act is not present. This lack of
overlap also demonstrates that the act of physical restraint is distinct from the act
of otherwise using a gun. Thus, Mr. Rucker also cannot establish the second
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element of the double-counting analysis.
Finally, as to the last element (whether the enhancements serve identical
purposes), we agree with the Ninth Circuit that double counting is permissible
when it accounts for more than one type of harm. See United States v. Parker , 136
F.3d at 654. Here, the enhancements at issue punish two distinct harms.
Pointing a gun with a laser sight at a victim causes one type of harm. Physically
restraining a victim during a crime, whether with a gun or with rope, causes
another type of harm. It is well within the discretion of the Commission to
recognize these distinct harms and punish them distinctly. When both occur, both
will be punished. Such is the case with Mr. Rucker’s sentence, and as a result,
there is no impermissible double counting.
Accordingly, Mr. Rucker’s sentence is AFFIRMED.
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