United States v. Thomas A. Bridge ( 2004 )


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  •                      United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
    ___________
    No. 03-4076
    ___________
    United States of America,               *
    *
    Appellee,                  *
    * Appeal from the United States
    v.                                * District Court for the
    * District of Nebraska.
    Thomas A. Bridge,                       *
    *     [PUBLISHED]
    Appellant.                 *
    ___________
    Submitted: July 7, 2004
    Filed: July 28, 2004
    ___________
    Before MELLOY, HANSEN, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.
    ___________
    PER CURIAM.
    Thomas A. Bridge appeals the sentence the district court1 imposed after he
    pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500
    grams or more of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. We affirm.
    At sentencing, the district court assigned 1 criminal history point to each of
    Bridge’s two prior convictions for possession of drug paraphernalia, raising his point
    total to 4 and placing him in criminal history Category III. Bridge argues that the
    1
    The Honorable Richard G. Kopf, Chief Judge, United States District Court for
    the District of Nebraska.
    court clearly erred in assessing these criminal history points because the offense is
    similar to those listed in U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(c). We, however, have recently
    determined that possession of drug paraphernalia is not similar to the category of
    offenses listed as excepted in section 4A1.2(c)(1). See United States v. Hatch, 94
    Fed. Appx. 427, 429 (8th Cir. 2004) (unpublished per curiam); see also United States
    v. Moore, 
    245 F.3d 1023
    , 1025 (8th Cir. 2001). And we now conclude that it is not
    similar to the category of offenses listed in section 4A1.2(c)(2), because (1)
    possession of drug paraphernalia is an offense of prohibitions, cf. United States v.
    Webb, 
    218 F.3d 877
    , 881 (8th Cir. 2000) (conviction for being minor in possession
    of alcohol represented violation of specific liquor control law, rather than being
    merely reflective of status crime, and as “offense of prohibitions,” it did not belong
    to category of offenses listed in section 4A1.2(c)(2)), cert. denied, 
    531 U.S. 1131
    (2001); and (2) under Nebraska law, this offense requires proof of criminal intent, see
    Neb. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 28-441 (Michie 2003) (“unlawful for any person to use, or to
    possess with intent to use, drug paraphernalia to manufacture, inject, ingest, inhale,
    or otherwise introduce into the human body a controlled substance” (emphasis
    added)); cf. United States v. Sandoval, 
    152 F.3d 1190
    , 1192 (9th Cir.1998) (“Unlike
    the offenses listed in U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(c)(2), petty theft requires proof of criminal
    intent.”), cert. denied, 
    525 U.S. 1086
    (1999).
    We also reject Bridge’s argument that, because these were uncounseled
    convictions, the district court erred in assigning criminal history points. Cf. U.S.S.G.
    § 4A1.2 comment. (background) (“Prior sentences, not otherwise excluded, are to be
    counted in the criminal history score, including uncounseled misdemeanor sentences
    where imprisonment was not imposed.”).
    Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
    ______________________________
    -2-
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 03-4076

Filed Date: 7/28/2004

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 10/13/2015