United States v. Robert Kelly Mounts , 155 F. App'x 951 ( 2005 )


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  •                      United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
    ___________
    No. 04-3491
    ___________
    United States of America,                 *
    *
    Appellee,                    * Appeal from the United States
    * District Court for the
    v.                                  * Southern District of Iowa.
    *
    Robert Kelly Mounts,                      *      [UNPUBLISHED]
    *
    Appellant.                   *
    ___________
    Submitted: November 4, 2005
    Filed: December 5, 2005
    ___________
    Before BYE, McMILLIAN, and RILEY, Circuit Judges.
    ___________
    PER CURIAM.
    Robert Mounts (Mounts) appeals the sentence imposed by the district court
    after he pled guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, in
    violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 922
    (g)(1); and to interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle,
    in violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 2312
    . The district court sentenced Mounts to 100 months’
    imprisonment, the bottom of the Guidelines range, and 3 years’ supervised release.
    Mounts seeks review of his sentence based on Blakely v. Washington, 
    124 S. Ct. 2531
    (2004), maintaining the facts supporting certain sentencing enhancements were not
    charged in the indictment, and were neither proven to a jury beyond a reasonable
    doubt nor admitted by Mounts during his plea colloquy. Mounts also argues that aside
    from the Blakely issue, the court erred by applying a 4-level enhancement for
    possessing a firearm in connection with another felony offense, under U.S.S.G.
    § 2K2.1(b)(5), because there was no evidence to indicate he directly possessed the
    firearm; and further, the court wrongly applied the lower standard of proof used in
    drug cases.
    This court reviews the district court’s application of the Sentencing Guidelines
    de novo and the court’s factual findings for clear error. See United States v. Mack,
    
    343 F.3d 929
    , 935 (8th Cir. 2003), cert. denied, 
    540 U.S. 1226
     (2004). It is
    undisputed Mounts drove a stolen truck while aware of a loaded RG Model 66 .22
    caliber pistol in the glove box of the truck. The district court did not err by inferring
    the pistol in the glove box emboldened Mounts to continue possessing the stolen
    truck. Thus, the court properly enhanced Mounts’s base offense level under section
    2K2.1(b)(5). See 
    id. at 936
     (for section 2K2.1(b)(5) purposes, “a defendant’s
    maintenance of a firearm at an easily accessible location while in a stolen car permits
    the inference that the firearm emboldened the defendant to continue his illegal
    conduct” of tampering with same vehicle). Additionally, the court’s reasoning in its
    entirety reveals that although the court drew an analogy to drug cases, it did not
    actually apply the “not clearly improbable standard” used to determine the possession
    of firearms in drug cases, see U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 (comment. n.3), and instead
    determined Mounts possessed the firearm in connection with the offense of interstate
    transportation of a stolen vehicle.
    Mounts’s Blakely challenge to his sentence, however is valid, because the
    district court erred in sentencing Mounts under a mandatory Guidelines regime, see
    United States v. Booker, 
    125 S. Ct. 738
    , 756-57 (2005) (holding Guidelines to be only
    advisory), and Mounts preserved this issue at sentencing. We thus review for
    harmless error. See 
    id. at 769
    . The government did not meet its burden of proving
    harmless error. Mounts was sentenced at the bottom of the applicable Guidelines
    range, and there is nothing in the record to suggest the district court would have given
    -2-
    the same sentence under an advisory system. See United States v. Haidley, 
    400 F.3d 642
    , 644-45 (8th Cir. 2005).
    Accordingly, we remand for resentencing.
    ______________________________
    -3-
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 04-3491

Citation Numbers: 155 F. App'x 951

Judges: Bye, McMillian, Per Curiam, Riley

Filed Date: 12/5/2005

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 11/5/2024