United States v. Corey Smith ( 2006 )


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  •                               UNPUBLISHED ORDER
    Not to be cited per Circuit Rule 53
    United States Court of Appeals
    For the Seventh Circuit
    Chicago, Illinois 60604
    Submitted August 9, 2005
    Decided April 4, 2006
    Before
    Hon. RICHARD D. CUDAHY, Circuit Judge
    Hon. JOHN L. COFFEY, Circuit Judge
    Hon. ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge
    No. 05-2526
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,                         )
    )    Appeal from the United States
    Plaintiff-Appellee,            )    District Court for the Northern
    )    District of Indiana, Fort Wayne
    )    Division
    v.                                  )
    )    No. 02 CR 71-2
    COREY A. SMITH,                                   )
    )    William C. Lee, Judge.
    Defendant-Appellant.           )
    ORDER
    This case returns to us following re-sentencing of defendant Corey Smith in
    the wake of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Blakely v. Washington, 
    542 U.S. 296
    ,
    
    124 S. Ct. 2531
     (2004), and United States v. Booker, 
    543 U.S. 220
    , 
    125 S. Ct. 738
    (2005). See United States v. Smith, 
    393 F.3d 717
    , 720 (7th Cir. 2004). The district
    judge on remand re-sentenced Smith to the same prison term it had originally
    imposed, recognizing that it now had discretion to impose a sentence outside of the
    advisory Guidelines range. R. 101; R. 106 at 5-6. Smith again appealed, but his
    counsel filed a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 
    386 U.S. 738
    , 
    87 S. Ct. 1396
    No. 05-2526                                                                     Page 2
    (1967), contending that no non-frivolous grounds for appeal remain at this point.1
    On October 7, 2005, we issued an order directing Smith’s counsel to address
    two issues that we identified as potentially meritorious: (1) whether the district
    complied with its obligation to consider the sentencing factors set forth in 
    18 U.S.C. § 3553
    (a), see Booker, 543 U.S. at 259-60, 125 S. Ct. at 764-65; United States v.
    Dean, 
    414 F.3d 725
    , 728 (7th Cir. 2005), given that the court did not mention
    section 3553(a) or the factors set forth therein when it re-sentenced Smith; and (2)
    whether Smith’s sentence is reasonable, see Booker, 543 U.S. at 260-61, 125 S. Ct.
    at 765; United States v. Paladino, 
    401 F.3d 471
    , 484 (7th Cir. 2005), cert. denied,
    
    126 S. Ct. 106
     (2005), and cert. denied, 
    126 S. Ct. 1343
     (2006). We asked Smith’s
    attorney either to brief the merits of these issues or, in the alternative, to file a
    supplemental Anders brief explaining why he believes that no non-frivolous
    argument can be made as to either issue.
    Concluding that Smith cannot make a non-frivolous argument on either of
    the two issues we raised, Smith’s counsel has filed a supplemental Anders brief
    setting out the rationale that has led him to this conclusion. With respect to the
    section 3553(a) sentencing factors, Smith’s counsel points out that when it re-
    sentenced Smith, the court referred to and incorporated the reasons it had given
    for imposing the same sentence at Smith’s first sentencing hearing. R. 106 at 6.
    Those reasons, although they were not articulated with express reference to section
    3553(a), were consistent with the types of sentencing factors set forth in section
    3553(a). As for the reasonableness of the sentence, Smith’s counsel observes that
    because it falls within the advisory Guidelines range, it is presumptively
    reasonable. Counsel represents that he knows of no circumstance that would rebut
    this presumption.
    Having reviewed the record, we agree that Smith is unable to make a non-
    frivolous argument that his sentence is invalid because the district court did not
    expressly cite and consider the section 3553(a) sentencing factors in re-sentencing
    Smith. We have previously stated that a district court is not obliged to discuss
    those factors exhaustively, United States v. George, 
    403 F.3d 470
    , 472-73 (7th Cir.),
    cert. denied, 
    126 S. Ct. 636
     (2005), or even to cite section 3553(a), United States v.
    Laufle, 
    433 F.3d 981
    , 987-88 (7th Cir. 2006), so long as the record assures us that
    the court gave meaningful consideration to the types of sentencing factors that the
    statute identifies, 
    id.
     at 987 (citing United States v. Williams, 
    425 F.3d 478
    , 480
    (7th Cir. 2005), cert. denied, 
    126 S. Ct. 1182
     (2006)); see also United States v.
    1
    The court invited Smith to file a response to his counsel’s Anders brief, but
    Smith did not do so.
    No. 05-2526                                                                      Page 3
    Cunningham, 
    429 F.3d 673
    , 676 (7th Cir. 2005). In this case, the court’s remarks
    on re-sentencing Smith were quite brief; as we noted in our October 7, 2005 order,
    the court treated the proceeding more as a remand pursuant to Paladino, 
    401 F.3d at 483-84
    , than as a de novo re-sentencing. See R. 106 at 4-6. No doubt, the brevity
    of the court’s rationale for imposing the same sentence is due in large part to the
    fact that the parties themselves made only abbreviated arguments on remand: the
    government contended that the court should impose the same sentence for the same
    reasons it had originally, while Smith contended that a lesser sentence was
    warranted given that the judge’s finding on obstruction of justice had increased the
    Guidelines sentencing range. The court considered and rejected the latter
    argument, and otherwise noted that it believed the same sentence was warranted
    for the same reasons that it had articulated at the original sentencing. R. 106 at 6.
    As Smith’s counsel points out, the findings set forth in the detailed pre-sentencing
    memorandum that the court issued in advance of the original sentencing (resolving
    Smith’s objections to the probation officer’s pre-sentence report) track a number of
    the sentencing factors set forth in section 3553(a). For example, the court not only
    found that Smith had intentionally lied during his trial testimony, but it also
    rejected Smith’s contention that a Criminal History Category of II was
    inappropriately high along with Smith’s contention that a downward departure was
    warranted based on his adverse home environment while he was a child, his prior
    drug use, and his educational background. R. 81. In resolving these issues, the
    court was necessarily taking into account such factors as the history and
    characteristics of the defendant, the gravity of his criminal conduct, the need to
    promote respect for the law and to provide just punishment for the offense, and
    avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities among similarly-situated defendants.
    See § 3553(a) (1), (2), and (6). On the other hand, now that Booker has rendered the
    Sentencing Guidelines advisory, these statutory sentencing factors have become
    more important, see Dean, 
    414 F.3d at 728
    , and district judges have much more
    leeway than they did prior to Booker to rely on these broad criteria in fashioning an
    appropriate sentence. Arguably, then, the district court’s implicit consideration of
    these criteria at the original sentencing did not relieve the court of the obligation to
    weigh the statutory sentencing factors anew on re-sentencing.
    Yet, even if we assume that the court should have given the section 3553(a)
    factors more attention, we can discern no potentially meritorious basis for
    contending that Smith was harmed by the omission. First, the court understood
    that in the wake of Booker and pursuant to this court’s remand, it had the authority
    to impose a different sentence than the one originally imposed, including one
    outside of the now-advisory Guidelines. The court considered that possibility and,
    based on the totality of the circumstances, concluded that a different sentence was
    not warranted. Second, the court gave the parties the opportunity on re-sentencing
    to identify any factors that supported a sentence within or without the Guidelines
    No. 05-2526                                                                    Page 4
    range. Third, as we have noted, Smith argued only one circumstance – the
    obstruction of justice enhancement, based on the judge’s finding that Smith had
    perjured himself at trial – that in Smith’s view warranted a sentence below the
    Guidelines range. The court considered that circumstance and concluded that it did
    not justify a different sentence. Fourth, as we discuss below in regard to the
    reasonableness of the sentence, nothing in the record stands out as a circumstance
    so unusual in kind or degree as to demand a sentence below the Guidelines range.
    Under these circumstances, the court’s omission to expressly consider the section
    3553(a) factors in re-sentencing Smith was harmless.
    Having reviewed the record, we further conclude that no arguably
    meritorious argument can be made that Smith’s re-imposed sentence is
    unreasonable. Because it is within the range recommended by the Sentencing
    Guidelines, the sentence is presumptively reasonable, and Smith would bear the
    burden of rebutting that presumption. United States v. Mykytiuk, 
    415 F.3d 606
    , 608
    (7th Cir. 2005).
    The sole ground that Smith has preserved as a basis for contending that the
    sentence is unreasonable is the obstruction of justice enhancement pursuant to
    section 3C1.1 of the Guidelines. Smith emphasized below that the enhancement
    was based on a judicial rather than a jury determination that he had given false
    testimony at trial. However, the Supreme Court’s decision in Booker solved the
    Sixth Amendment problem presented by such enhancements not by requiring jury
    findings as to the underlying facts but rather by severing and excising the statutory
    provision compelling courts to follow the Sentencing Guidelines. See Booker, 543
    U.S. at 258-59, 125 S. Ct. at 764. District courts remain obliged to consult the
    Guidelines in arriving at an appropriate sentence, and for that purpose they must
    apply the relevant Guidelines provisions and make the necessary factual
    determinations just as they did before Booker. See, e.g., United States v. Della Rose,
    
    435 F.3d 735
    , 738 (7th Cir. 2006). Thus, the fact that the obstruction enhancement
    was based on a factual determination by the judge rather than the jury is neither
    here nor there vis-à-vis the reasonableness of the sentence. Smith went on to
    suggest below that the increase in his offense level and the resulting sentencing
    range triggered by the enhancement was out of proportion to the conduct on which
    the court had based the enhancement. But the district court reasonably rejected
    that suggestion, noting that Smith had not simply denied his guilt when he took the
    witness stand at trial, but had given testimony rife with “misinformation and
    obfuscation”. R. 106 at 6. In short, the obstruction enhancement and the resulting
    increase in Smith’s offense level and sentencing range does not call into question
    the reasonableness of his sentence.
    Any other basis for challenging the reasonableness of the sentence was not
    No. 05-2526                                                                      Page 5
    argued below, and we would assess such a ground pursuant to a plain-error
    standard. E.g., United States v. Hawk, 
    434 F.3d 959
    , 961-62 (7th Cir. 2006).
    Having independently reviewed the record, we have found no other circumstance so
    compelling that it might be thought to rebut the presumptive reasonableness of
    Smith’s Guidelines sentence. Smith was sentenced based on his participation in the
    sale of 25.47 grams of crack cocaine to an undercover police detective. Although it
    was co-defendant Alonzo Grant who negotiated the transaction with the detective,
    Smith was, as the district court noted, “clearly right at the heart of the transaction.”
    R. 81 at 12 n.8. The Guidelines sentencing range in this case was based on the
    amount of crack cocaine involved in this transaction alone, so there can be no
    argument that relevant drug quantity was disproportionate to the offense of
    conviction or Smith’s involvement in that offense. According to the probation
    officer’s pre-sentence report, Smith reports having dropped out of school in the
    ninth grade and having begun to use drugs at the age of 15. He was raised by his
    mother alone (he saw his father only occasionally), but he described his upbringing
    as “good.” R. 82 at 13 ¶ 82. Although Smith’s background can hardly be described
    as ideal, the record discloses nothing so extraordinary as to suggest that reason
    demands a sentence outside of the Guidelines range.
    For these reasons, finding that there is no non-frivolous ground on which
    Smith could challenge his sentence at this juncture, we GRANT his counsel’s
    motion to withdraw and summarily AFFIRM his sentence as a reasonable one.